The Bluebonnet Bowl was an annual college football bowl game played in Houston, Texas . A civic group was appointed by the Houston Chamber of Commerce Athletics Committee in 1959 to organize the bowl game. It was held at Rice Stadium from 1959 through 1967, and again in 1985 and 1986. The game was played in the Astrodome from 1968 through 1984, as well in 1987. When held in the Astrodome, it was called the Astro-Bluebonnet Bowl . The proceeds from the bowl games were distributed to various Harris County charitable organizations. The game was discontinued following the 1987 season due to poor ticket sales and lack of a title sponsor.
17-630: Rice Stadium may refer to: Rice Stadium (Rice University) , football stadium on the Rice University campus in Houston, Texas Robert Rice Stadium , football stadium on the University of Utah campus in Salt Lake City, now called Rice-Eccles stadium Wendel D. Ley Track and Holloway Field , formerly known as Rice Track/Soccer Stadium Topics referred to by
34-577: A team from Texas against an out-of-state opponent; 19 out of the 29 games involved a team from Texas. From 1980 to 1987, with the exception of 1981, a runner-up from the Southwest Conference played against an at-large opponent. The hometown Houston Cougars played in four games, all before joining the SWC. Runners-up from the Big 8 or Southeastern Conferences were also perennial participants. The bluebonnet
51-447: Is an example of modern architecture , with simple lines and an unadorned, functional design. The lower seating bowl is located below the surrounding ground level. Built solely for football, the stadium has excellent sightlines from almost every seat. To achieve this, the running track was eliminated so that spectators were closer to the action and each side of the upper decks was brought in at a concave angle to provide better sightlines. It
68-693: Is different from Wikidata All article disambiguation pages All disambiguation pages Rice Stadium (Rice University) Rice Stadium is an American football stadium located on the Rice University campus in Houston , Texas . It has been the home of the Rice Owls football team since its completion in 1950 , and hosted John F. Kennedy 's " We choose to go to the Moon " speech in 1962 and Super Bowl VIII in early 1974. Architecturally, Rice Stadium
85-476: Is still recognized in many circles as the best stadium in Texas for watching a football game. Entrances and aisles were strategically placed so that the entire stadium could be emptied of spectators in nine minutes. In 2006, Rice University upgraded the facility by switching from AstroTurf to FieldTurf and adding a modern scoreboard above the north concourse. Seating in the upper deck is in poor condition, which led
102-495: The Atlantic? Why does Rice play Texas ? We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon. We choose to go to the Moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and
119-437: The infield area of the bike track west of Rice Stadium for the first time in late July 2020, creating a facility to house practices, intramurals and other events when weather put those events in peril. †= Team's stadium under construction or refurbishment at time 1 = A team used the stadium when their permanent stadium was unable to be used as a result of damage. Bluebonnet Bowl The Bluebonnet Bowl generally featured
136-512: The others, too." Kennedy's comments implied Rice had a history of losing to Texas ; however, the two football teams had split 5–5 in their previous ten meetings and tied the following month . On the other hand, Kennedy's comments about Rice-Texas might have been as forward-looking as his statements about going to the Moon (which did occur in 1969 ): Since 1963 , Rice has gone just 2–43 (.044) against Texas, including 28 straight losses between 1966 and 1993 and twenty straight from 1995 to
153-639: The present. On July 2, 1988, Rice Stadium hosted a stop on the Monsters of Rock tour. The tour was headlined by Van Halen and also featured Metallica , Scorpions , Dokken , and Kingdom Come . This was also the Texas World Music Festival. As originally built, Rice Stadium seated 70,000, the second-largest stadium in the Southwest Conference (behind the Cotton Bowl ). Rice Stadium was built before professional football came to Houston and while Rice
170-421: The same term [REDACTED] This disambiguation page lists articles associated with the title Rice Stadium . If an internal link led you here, you may wish to change the link to point directly to the intended article. Retrieved from " https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Rice_Stadium&oldid=1012257774 " Category : Disambiguation pages Hidden categories: Short description
187-466: The speech in which President John F. Kennedy challenged Americans to meet his goal, set the previous year, to send a man to the Moon by the end of the decade. In the Wednesday afternoon speech, he used a reference to Rice University football to help frame his rhetoric: "But why, some say, the Moon? Why choose this as our goal? And they may well ask, why climb the highest mountain? Why, 35 years ago, fly
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#1733202661584204-613: The stadium for three seasons ( 1965 – 1967 ), then moved to the Astrodome in 1968 . In January 1974 , the venue hosted Super Bowl VIII , the first played in Texas, in which the defending champion Miami Dolphins defeated the Minnesota Vikings 24–7 with 68,142 in attendance. The game returned to Houston thirty years later in February 2004 , for Super Bowl XXXVIII at Reliant Stadium . On September 12, 1962, Rice Stadium hosted
221-402: The university to move home games for which large crowds were expected to nearby NRG Stadium . High school football games, especially neutral-site playoff games, are frequently played at Rice Stadium. It can also be used as a concert venue. Rice Stadium replaced Rice Field (now Wendel D. Ley Track and Holloway Field ), which had a total capacity of less than 37,000, in 1950. The new stadium
238-513: Was later demolished. As of 2023 , school continues exploring options for a modern seating arrangement with a reduced capacity. Around July 2015, construction began on the Brian Patterson Sports Performance Center. This building makes up the north end of the stadium, and contain a weight room, a home team locker room, coaching and staff offices. This replaced the north end seating that consisted of crude concrete steps and
255-553: Was still competitive in the Southwest Conference. It was reasonable to expect 70,000 fans to attend a college football game there. However, as Rice declined on the field from the 1960s onward, the Owls found it increasingly difficult to fill the stadium. Even crowds of 30,000 were swallowed up in the environment. In 2006, the end zone seats were covered with tarps, reducing the regular seating capacity to 47,000. The northern end zone
272-591: Was subsidized by the City of Houston, and it was designed by Hermon Lloyd & W. B. Morgan and Milton McGinty and built by Brown and Root . In addition to Rice, the University of Houston Cougars played at Rice Stadium from 1951 through 1964 , and the former Bluebonnet Bowl was played there from 1959 to 1967 , and in 1985 and 1986 . The Houston Oilers of the American Football League (AFL) played in
289-546: Was unused. The building was named for donor and former Rice University football player and alumnus Brian Patterson. On May 9, 2019, the Rice University Board of Trustees approved a proposal for an air-supported multipurpose facility on the west side of Rice Stadium that will offer climate-protected space for varsity athletics training, campus recreation and Rice student events, activities and community partner events. The 80,000 square foot inflatable structure rose up from
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