Super Bowl LI is this Sunday, February 5th. While most football fans are planning their parties, whipping up their favorite treats, and placing their wagers, we wanted to take a minute and share some interesting facts about NRG Stadium, home of this year’s game.
Groundbreaking ceremonies took place in 2000 for the NRG stadium.

• It took a team of 1065 workers, using 17,274 tons of structural steel, approximately 2 years to assemble the 69,500 seat capacity stadium.
• The stadium also contains 160,000 cubic yards of concrete and 423 bolts securing the structure.
• NRG is one of the few stadiums in the National Football League to use LED lights (65,000 bulbs to be exact) to illuminate the field. At full power, the lighting system uses 337 kilowatts, which is 60% less energy than the previous system.
• In addition to the energy efficient LED lights, there are 599 solar panels generating power for the stadium.
• The parking lot at NRG is equipped with 6 electric vehicle charging stations for fans’ convenience.
• The retractable roof measures 500′ x 385′ and can be opened in 7 minutes. The roof mechanization consists of two large panels that split apart at the 50 yard line, lying over and above each end zone when fully retracted. Roof operation is controlled in the stadium press box via computer.
• Prior to the start of the 2016 season, the 97,000 sq ft playing surface was converted to an artificial surface.
  There are 1.5 billion blades of synthetic turf on the field.

Regardless of which team you are cheering for this Sunday – take a minute – and be thankful you are not paying that utility bill.