A very interesting piece of Texans history for those of you that didn't know.
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Dallas Cowboys Owner Jerry Jones Gifted the “Texans” Name to the Houston Texans
October 6, 2018
There is some history between the Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys in this in-state game set for Sunday Night Football. Cowboys owner Jerry Jones was instrumental in landing the Texans for Houston, especially after the Oilers left Houston at the conclusion of the 1996 season.
Jones talked with 105.3 The Fan (Dallas-Forth Worth-KRLD-FM) on the upcoming game and discussed how the Texans name came to be. Jones called Houston one of his favorite places and he spent plenty of time in the city in his younger years prior to buying the Cowboys.
“I feel a kinship there, I really did everything I could do to get a team back into Houston,” Jones said of the Texans franchise. “We are talking about this team, the Texans.”
The Texans were awarded to Houston in 1999 to even the league out to 32 teams after Cleveland was awarded back a team due to their original franchise moving to Baltimore to become the Ravens. The Houston football ownership, led by owner Bob McNair narrowed the team name options down to the Apollos, Bobcats, Stallions, Texans, and Wildcatters. The name “Texans” was eventually selected to become the moniker and McNair reached out to then Kansas Chiefs owner Lamar Hunt to show respect on using the “Texans” name. However, Hunt did not own the name, it was Cowboys owner Jones who owned the rights to the name.
“I had the actual rights on the sports team for ‘Texans.’” Jones explained. “I gave that to Bob McNair and the Texans when they decided that was the name they wanted to use.”
At the time, Jones owned not only had the Cowboys, but was also part of the Arena Football League. The Texans name was owned just in case Jones wanted to use for his AFL team, however he elected to go with the Dallas Desperados.
Jones went into why he owned the name. “It was basically, probably initiated by the interest we had in arena football.”
He continued, “We didn’t end up calling the team the Texans, but that is what made me want to corner off the rights to the Texan name.”