With the NFL regular season just a few weeks away, the Houston Texans are dealing with an unfortunate reality. Roof damage from Hurricane Beryl will force the team to play in scorching heat while random spurts of sun pours down onto the field.
Don’t worry, it sounds a lot worse than it is!
Bery, a Category 1 storm, rolled through Texas in early July and put two holes in the roof at NRG Stadium.
It is made up of steel-hinged frames that are wrapped in a translucent fabric. The fabric ripped.
Houston Texans owner Cal McNair said that NRG Stadium repairs will take some time. The damage could will last into the regular season.
The studies on that are ongoing, and we’ll learn more as we kind of work through it. There are several panels that were damaged. These things aren’t on your local shelf at the do-it-yourself Home Depot. Wonderful stores that are around. They’re special-ordered, specially-made, so it’ll take a while. We’re hopeful that we’ll get them about a month into the season.
— Cal McNair
In the meantime, the retractable roof will not be fully closed when it is not fully open. Two of the panels are wide open at all times, which creates a unique problem. The sun is going to shine down on a ten(ish)-yard stretch of the field and only that ten-yard stretch of the field. A second sunspot will hover over fans in the end zone.
Here is a timelapse of how it will look throughout the day:
Fortunately, Houston cranked up the A/C even higher so temperatures were not insufferable. Especially for fans who aren’t in the sun.
However, the glare of the sun could pose a unique challenge for NFL players. And if inclement weather rolls in, those two open panels will create a very strange scenario. Rain would fall only in/on those two specific parts of the stadium/field. Everywhere else would be dry.
Texas weather is unpredictable in late summer so there is no telling how things will play out in the next few weeks. Fans at home should be rooting for storms, just to see what happens when only two pieces of the roof are open. It would be so weird!