The Tennessee Titans franchise has the rights to the records and uniforms of the Houston Oilers, who played in the Bayou City from 1960-96.
Founder Bud Adams was unhappy that the city of Houston wouldn’t acquiesce and build a new stadium for the Oilers and decided to leave town. Interestingly, Adams pulled the same move in 1985 to get Harris County taxpayers to approve a bond election that funded upgrades to the Astrodome just so the Oilers wouldn’t leave.
The Titans decided to pay tribute to the Oilers — curiously not specifying whether they were honoring the Houston or Tennessee version — on Twitter Wednesday, and it drew the ire of Houston sports fans. After all “Luv ya Blue” was a part of Houston sports history, not anything associated with the Oilers’ back-and-forth trips between Memphis and Nashville before becoming the Titans in 1999.
