{"id":253136,"date":"2026-04-16T20:27:12","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:27:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/253136\/"},"modified":"2026-04-16T20:27:12","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T20:27:12","slug":"houston-stadium-to-again-bear-reliant-name-after-more-than-a-decade-houston-public-media","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/253136\/","title":{"rendered":"Houston stadium to again bear \u2018Reliant\u2019 name after more than a decade \u2013 Houston Public Media"},"content":{"rendered":"

\t\t\t\t\t\"The<\/a>The \u201cNRG Stadium\u201d name being removed ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the planned rebranding of the venue to \u201cReliant Stadium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The home of the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, NRG Stadium, is returning to its roots.<\/p>\n

The venue is being rebranded as “Reliant Stadium,” its original name when it opened in 2002, according to NRG Energy Inc. <\/p>\n

The name change will also apply to the grounds surrounding the stadium, which will again be referred to as “Reliant Park.” The grounds are home to the annual Houston rodeo and the historic Astrodome.<\/p>\n

Sign up for the Hello, Houston!<\/a> daily newsletter to get local reports like this delivered directly to your inbox.<\/p>\n

Although the stadium and surrounding park are owned by Harris County and managed by the Harris County Sports & Convention Corporation, Houston-based company Reliant Energy secured a 32-year naming rights deal for the stadium in 2000 for $300 million, naming it “Reliant Stadium.” In 2009, Reliant’s retail business was acquired by NRG Energy, which renamed the stadium “NRG Stadium” in 2014. <\/p>\n

Meghan McConomy, the vice president of brand strategy and marketing for NRG, said the Reliant name will return to the stadium in August, just in time for the start of the next NFL season. <\/p>\n

“We did do a survey with Reliant customers, and 90% actually supported the change back to Reliant Stadium,” McConomy said. “[The response] has been super positive. … A lot of people are saying, \u2018I never stopped calling it Reliant Stadium.”<\/p>\n

\"Rendering<\/a><\/p>\n

Provided via NRG Energy<\/p>\n

An artist\u2019s rendering of the \u201cReliant Stadium\u201d name at the Houston Texans\u2019 home venue.<\/p>\n

The timing of the name change works out for several reasons, McConomy said, because this upcoming season is the 25th anniversary of the Houston Texans. Also, the current NRG Stadium branding is being removed in preparation for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. <\/p>\n

RELATED: Rain poured through NRG Stadium during monster truck rally due to roof-replacement construction<\/a><\/p>\n

During the World Cup in June and July, when Houston will host seven matches<\/a> as part of the international soccer tournament, the venue will be referred to as “Houston Stadium” because of FIFA\u2019s sponsorship policies. <\/p>\n

“And then with the NFL season starting in August and the Texans celebrating their 25th season, it really provided that perfect opportunity for us to go back to the original name,” McConomy said. “The Texans started 25 years ago at Reliant Stadium, and so we’re bringing it back.” <\/p>\n

The NRG branding around the stadium started to be removed in April. On Thursday, some of the major signage was removed. <\/p>\n

“It’s fun to announce something that’s meaningful to the city and working across our partners \u2014 the Houston Texans and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo \u2013 it’s been really fun,” McConomy said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The \u201cNRG Stadium\u201d name being removed ahead of the 2026 FIFA World Cup and the planned rebranding of…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":253137,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[20313,910,56,58,57,79,66,223,12833,8362,57894,95414,24257,154],"class_list":{"0":"post-253136","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-houston","8":"tag-2026-fifa-world-cup","9":"tag-business","10":"tag-houston","11":"tag-houston-headlines","12":"tag-houston-news","13":"tag-houston-texans","14":"tag-local","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-nrg-energy","17":"tag-nrg-stadium","18":"tag-reliant-energy","19":"tag-reliant-stadium","20":"tag-rodeo-houston","21":"tag-sports"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253136","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=253136"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/253136\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/253137"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=253136"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=253136"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=253136"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}