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Dubbed the "8th Wonder of the World," it was one of the world's first fully indoor stadiums and the birthplace of astroturf (that was vacuumed by people in astronaut suits between innings). It was abandoned when the Astros threatened to move unless Minute Maid Park (formerly Enron Field) was built. The stadium is no longer open to visitors, but it is still a spectacle.
The teams representing the city's largest school, the University of Houston, compete in the Big 12 Conference. Most athletic venues are on campus, with the best-known being TDECU Stadium (football) and Fertitta Center (basketball). These venues are marked in the "South Inner Loop" page.
Rice University, the city's most prominent private school, remained in Conference USA during the near-constant conference changes in the early 2010s, but moved to the American Athletic Conference in 2023 (ironically, at the same time UH left The American for the Big 12). As with UH, Rice's main venues are on campus, among them Rice Stadium (football), Tudor Fieldhouse (basketball), and Reckling Park (baseball). These venues are marked in the "South Inner Loop" page.
Especially of interest to African American visitors, or those interested in African-American culture, are the teams representing Texas Southern University, the city's historically black university. The Tigers compete with other HBCUs in the Southwestern Athletic Conference. Unlike Houston and Rice, whose football teams play in the top-level FBS, Texas Southern football is in the second-level FCS. Most venues are also on campus; the football team has an on-campus stadium, but occasionally uses Shell Energy Stadium and (less often) NRG Stadium.