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Rice Stadium

Rice Stadium in Houston, TX, home of Rice. Capacity 47,000. Opened September 30, 1950.

Rice Stadium in Houston, TX
Rice Stadium, Houston, TXPhoto: Quintin Soloviev, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons
Capacity
47,000
Opened
1950
Surface
AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D60H
Roof
Open air
Elevation
23 ft
Home team
Rice
Rice here
71–⁠68 games on file since 2001

Since it opened: Rice is 198–⁠228–⁠7 in home games from the 1950 season on. Our source names a game’s stadium only from 2001, so that count takes every earlier home game not marked neutral and may include a few played elsewhere.

Biggest games here

From the games on file here, 2001 on: title and postseason games, meetings of two ranked teams, upsets by our pregame Elo ratings and the biggest swings in CollegeFootballData.com’s excitement index.

Crowds season by season

Average and biggest crowd at Rice Stadium by season, 2001 to 20260k10k20k30k40k50k2001: 18,307 a game over 4 games; biggest 29,3172002: 20,069 a game over 5 games; biggest 30,7472003: 15,461 a game over 5 games; biggest 27,8322004: 12,550 a game over 4 games; biggest 18,4072005: 10,072 a game over 5 games; biggest 12,7142006: 14,760 a game over 4 games; biggest 23,3522007: 13,353 a game over 6 games; biggest 21,5432008: 20,179 a game over 6 games; biggest 35,5342009: 13,552 a game over 6 games; biggest 19,7532010: 18,092 a game over 6 games; biggest 26,3422011: 17,329 a game over 5 games; biggest 25,3172012: 20,325 a game over 5 games; biggest 28,6772013: 18,785 a game over 6 games; biggest 22,9742014: 18,216 a game over 5 games; biggest 19,4642015: 19,339 a game over 6 games; biggest 24,4092016: 21,425 a game over 6 games; biggest 27,0472017: 19,354 a game over 5 games; biggest 21,7662018: 20,172 a game over 6 games; biggest 26,3902019: 18,845 a game over 6 games; biggest 20,3672020: 2,000 a game over 1 games; biggest 2,0002021: 18,613 a game over 6 games; biggest 26,2532022: 19,011 a game over 6 games; biggest 21,9262023: 20,542 a game over 7 games; biggest 23,4252024: 18,143 a game over 6 games; biggest 21,2532025: 23,423 a game over 7 games; biggest 30,1162026: 15,374 a game over 3 games; biggest 16,739200120062011201620212026

Biggest crowds on file

35,534Houston at Rice2008
30,747Houston at Rice2002
30,116Houston at Rice2025
29,317Tulsa at Rice2001
28,677UTSA at Rice2012

Bars are each season’s average crowd, dots its biggest (the record in orange), the dashed rule today’s capacity. Attendance is on file for most games from 2001 on.

Weather on game day

Coldest kickoffs

Hottest kickoffs

Coldest game days before 2004

Hottest game days before 2004

Kickoffs: the NOAA report nearest kickoff from the closest weather station (NOAA NCEI Integrated Surface Database). Game days: the day’s high and snowfall at the NOAA station nearest the stadium, for Rice’s home games before 2004 (NOAA GHCN-Daily, public domain).

The stadium’s history

Former names
Houston Stadium
Rice Stadium
Opened
September 30, 1950
Architect
Hermon Lloyd & W.B. Morgan and Milton McGinty
Surface over the years
Natural grass (1950–⁠1969)
AstroTurf (1970–⁠2005)
FieldTurf (2006–⁠2014)
AstroTurf GameDay Grass 3D60H (2014–present)

From the stadium’s Wikipedia article, Rice Stadium (Houston).

From above

50 mN ↑
The stadium’s footprint, north up: about 200 by 220 meters (640 by 730 feet), the field in green. Outline from OpenStreetMap, © OpenStreetMap contributors.

Recent games here

Oct 17, 2026Tulsa 38, Rice 17
Oct 3, 2026UTSA 16, Rice 14
Sep 19, 2026Western Michigan 28, Rice 21
Sep 5, 2026Rice 31, Houston Christian 3
Nov 22, 202522North Texas 56, Rice 24
Nov 8, 2025Rice 24, UAB 17
Oct 31, 202525Memphis 38, Rice 14
Oct 25, 2025Rice 37, UConn 34
Oct 4, 2025Florida Atlantic 27, Rice 21
Sep 13, 2025Rice 38, Prairie View A&M 17
Sep 6, 2025Houston 35, Rice 9
Nov 30, 2024Rice 35, South Florida 28

Around the stadium

Playing surface
AstroTurf · Official source

Found by several AI researchers searching the web, then kept only where the page loads and says so in words naming the program; every quote is checked again each time the data is rebuilt. Official source: the school’s own page. All of them.

Pouring rights

Coca-Cola has the stadium’s soft-drink pouring rights, on record since 2023. Official source.