Reliant Stadium - Houston, Texas.

Super Bowl XXXVIII will be the second Super Bowl hosted in the great city of Houston. Super Bowl VIII was played at Rice Stadium on January 13, 1974. When the big game returns to the Lone Star State in 2004, NFL fans will be treated to a true 21st century experience at Reliant Stadium.
Houston Super Bowl Host Committee

Location
· State of Texas, southwest U.S.
· Upper Gulf Coast (50 miles from Gulf of Mexico)

Population
· 1.8 million /city
· 4.3 million / county metropolitan statistical area
· Houston is the seat of ethnically diverse Harris County.
· Houston is 54 percent white, 23 percent Hispanic, 19 percent African American and 4 percent Asian.

Size
· 617 square miles / city of Houston
· 8,778 square miles / CMSA

History
· Founded in August 1836 by brothers Augustus and John Allen. Houston is named after General Sam Houston, who led the Texas Army in its victory over General Santa Anna's Mexican forces at the 1836 Battle of San Jacinto. In 1837, Houston was incorporated in the Republic of Texas and served as its capital from 1837 to 1840.

Accommodations
· More than 46,000 hotel rooms in the city

Major Airports
· George Bush Intercontinental Airport
· William P. Hobby Airport

Architecture
· Chase Tower, the tallest building west of the Mississippi River, and Williams Tower, the tallest building outside a central business district, are two examples of Houston's award-winning architecture

Economic Health
· Houston's job count is 206 million - more than all of Colorado. The city also is an affordable place to live with a cost of living 21 percent below the average for 17 metro areas with more than 2 million people.

Arts
· One of the few U.S. cities with permanent ballet, opera, symphony and theater companies.
· More than 30 museums.
· With 10,000 theater seats, Houston ranks second only to New York.

Transportation
· Buses: The Metropolitan Transit Authority operates nearly 1,400 buses on 128 routes throughout the city. In FY 98, METRO had more than 100 million bus boardings.
· Freeways / expressways: 570 miles
· High Occupancy vehicle expressways: 86 miles carrying 85,000 people each weekday.
· The third-largest taxi cab fleet in the country with 2,000 vehicles.
· A free downtown trolley system.

Recreation
· 500-plus parks in Harris County
· 12,236 water-covered areas
· 32 miles of public beaches in area
· 100-plus golf courses in greater Houston
· Third largest concentration of pleasure boats in the United States

Restaurants
· More than 8,000 restaurants feature a wide variety of ethnic cuisine.

Shopping
· The Galleria, Houston's largest and best-known retail mall, features 320 stores and is visited by more than 16 million people annually.
· The oldest shopping district is the River Oaks Shopping Center.
· Walk Rice Village's charming sidewalks and scour its hundreds of shops.
· There are six major outlet malls in the area, offering great discount shopping.

Sports
· Houston Rockets, basketball
· Houston Astros, baseball
· Houston Aeros, hockey
· Houston Comets, women's basketball

Weather
· Mild year-round climate
· 66° average high winter temperature
· 91° average high summer temperature
· 79° average high spring / autumn temperature

Time Zone
· Houston is located in the Central Time Zone.

Sales Tax
· The sales tax is 8.25 percent.
· 6.25 percent goes to the state, 1 percent goes to the city and 1 percent goes to the transit authority.

Bed Tax
· Houston's hotel/motel tax is 17 percent.
· 7 percent goes to the city for maintenance of its civic center facilities, funding of the arts and funding of tourism and convention marketing efforts, 2 percent goes to for expansion work at Astrodome USA, 6 percent goes to the state and 2 percent goes to the Houston / Harris County Sports Authority

Seat Belt Law
· All drivers and front-seat passengers in Texas are required by law to use safety belts whenever they ride in safety belt-equipped cars or trucks of 3/4 capacity and below.