About Rice Stadium
Rice Stadium is a former name of Houston Stadium. Houston Stadium is a College Football stadium in Houston, Texas. It opened in 1950. It seats 47,000. Its current tenant is Rice Owls (College Football), since 1950. Former tenants include Houston Cougars (College Football, 1951–1964) and Houston Oilers (NFL, 1965–1967). In all, 3 teams from 2 leagues have called it home. By capacity it ranks 68th of 256 current College Football venues, counting only venues with a known capacity. On our ranked lists it ranks 91st oldest of 368 stadiums and arenas still in use, 31st for most tenants among 67 venues with 3 or more teams and 82nd longest single tenancy (76 years) of the 102 longest on record.
Appears in
- 91st oldest of 368 stadiums and arenas still in use
- 31st for most tenants among 67 venues with 3 or more teams
- 82nd longest single tenancy (76 years) of the 102 longest on record
- 89th oldest of 281 football stadiums still in use
- 10th for most tenants among 22 football stadiums with 3 or more teams
- 78th longest single tenancy (76 years) of the 101 longest on record in football stadiums
Venue Information
Location
Operator
Location derived from the venue's coordinates using data © OpenStreetMap contributors, available under the Open Database Licence (ODbL).
Elevation of the venue's coordinates from USGS and NASA SRTM elevation data, via Open Topo Data.
Architect and operator credits from Wikidata.
Teams
| Team | League | Years |
|---|---|---|
|
Rice Owls While based here: 77 seasons · 307-520-12 regular season · 12 postseason trips · 2026 in progress
College Football · 1950–present
American 2023–2026 · C-USA 2005–2022 · Western Athletic Conference 1996–2004 · 1 earlier conference · FBS (Division I-A)
|
College Football | 1950–present |
|
Houston Oilers While based here: 3 seasons · 16-25-1 regular season · 1 postseason trip
AFL · 1965–1967
|
AFL | 1965–1967 |
|
Houston Cougars While based here: 14 seasons · 69-63-5 regular season · 2 postseason trips
College Football · 1951–1964
Independent 1960–1964 · Missouri Valley 1951–1959 · University Division
|
College Football | 1951–1964 |
Records are each team's full-season results while it was based here, home and away games alike, from final scores. They are not records of games played at this venue.
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Frequently Asked Questions
What is the capacity of Rice Stadium?
The capacity of Rice Stadium is 47,000.
When was Rice Stadium built?
Rice Stadium opened in 1950.
Who operates Rice Stadium?
Rice Stadium is operated by Rice University.
Who plays at Rice Stadium?
Rice Stadium is the home venue of Rice Owls.
Where did the Houston Oilers play before Rice Stadium?
Before moving to Rice Stadium in 1965, the Houston Oilers played at Jeppesen Stadium from 1960 to 1964.
Where did the Houston Oilers play after Rice Stadium?
After leaving Rice Stadium in 1967, the Houston Oilers moved to Houston Astrodome in 1968. They played there until 1996.
Where did the Houston Cougars play before Rice Stadium?
Before moving to Rice Stadium in 1951, the Houston Cougars played at Public School Stadium from 1946 to 1950.
Where did the Houston Cougars play after Rice Stadium?
After leaving Rice Stadium in 1964, the Houston Cougars moved to Houston Astrodome in 1965. They played there until 1993.
Sources
Where the facts on this page were read from. How VenueStats compiles them.
- Open Topo Data (Public domain): Elevation.
- OpenStreetMap Nominatim (ODbL): Location.
- VenueStats compilation: Opening and closing years, name history and teams (compiled by VenueStats from Sports Reference and Wikipedia).
- Wikidata (CC0): Coordinates (Wikidata places the building within 0 m of this point), Architect and operator.
- Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA): Photograph.
- Wikipedia (CC BY-SA): Capacity.
Historical Names
Houston Stadium
Unknown - Present
Rice Stadium
Unknown - Present
CurrentLocation
Nearby Venues
| Venue | Years | Distance |
|---|---|---|
| Wendel D. Ley Track and Holloway Field | 1950– | 0.5 mi |
| Compaq Center | 1975– | 1.8 mi |
| Colt Stadium | 1962–1964 | 1.9 mi |
| NRG Astrodome | 1965–2008 | 2.2 mi |
| NRG Stadium | 2002– | 2.2 mi |
| NRG Arena | 1974– | 2.4 mi |
Straight-line distance between the venues' coordinates.
References
Teams on Wikipedia
Every source for the facts on this page is listed under Sources.