Hurricane Beryl Put a Hole in the NRG Stadium Roof

Dec 27, 2023; Houston, TX, USA; View outside of NRG Stadium before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 27, 2023; Houston, TX, USA; View outside of NRG Stadium before the game between the Texas A&M Aggies and the Oklahoma State Cowboys. Mandatory Credit: Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports / Troy Taormina-USA TODAY Sports
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Beryl hit Texas as a Category 1 hurricane on Monday and caused a devastating amount of damage. While the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression and continues to move across the United States, millions have been left without power in Texas.

Proof of the storm's power can also be seen at the Houston Texans NRG Stadium which clearly suffered damage during the storm. Multiple people captured images of a hole in the retractable roof.

This is not the first time the NRG Stadium roof has been damaged by a powerful storm. Back in 2008 when it was called Reliant Stadium, multiple panels were damaged by Hurricane Ike and a game had to be postponed. According to this news report, that cost $11 million to fix with FEMA covering 75% of the bill.

The Texans rarely open the roof, but who knows if they can even do that safely with that damage. According to that news report it took five months to fix the damage from Ike and the Texans host a preseason game on August 17.

A more pressing issue than the Texans preseason schedule is the fact that there are a number of other events scheduled to take place at the stadium this month. On July 13 there is a job fair scheduled, with a dog show and the Ringling Bros. and Barnum and Bailey Circus visiting the next week, and then Zach Bryan is supposed to play NRG on July 27.


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Stephen Douglas

STEPHEN DOUGLAS

Stephen Douglas is a Senior Writer on the Breaking & Trending News Team at Sports Illustrated. He has been in journalism and media since 2008, and now casts a wide net with coverage across all sports. Stephen spent more than a decade with The Big Lead and has previously written for Uproxx and The Sporting News. He has three children, two degrees and one now unverified Twitter account.