Houston Oilers' strange lame-duck season gave NFL a blueprint in how not to do relocation

[Wolf]

https://www.yahoo.com/sports/news/h...nt-in-how-not-to-do-relocation-192054953.html

HOUSTON – In one key way, Houston is the perfect place for Super Bowl LI: The city loves its football.


The Houston Texans have sold out every game since their first season in 2002. This week, you can’t go anywhere without a reminder that the Super Bowl is here. Everyone seems to be enjoying the attention as the center of the football universe. It makes the Houston Oilers’ awful, lame duck season here a little more than 20 years ago seem even more surreal.

The 1996 Oilers provided a sad and weird final chapter for a team that was once beloved. That Oilers were supposed to play in Houston again in 1997, but it was so bad in 1996 that owner Bud Adams decided to buy out its lease and move instead of doing it all over again.

The early move led to two more awkward seasons as the Oilers awaited completion of their permanent stadium in Nashville. Franchise relocation is never easy, and the NFL is dealing with it again.

“It was handled so poorly,” Hall of Fame offensive lineman Bruce Matthews said. “If anything – I think about the Rams and Chargers – we set an example in how you don’t want to move a franchise. It was a wreck.”

“It was weird,” 1996 Oilers safety Blaine Bishop said. “I feel for the teams moving now, but I’m sure they won’t go through what we went through.”

Buck fud...

 

[Showtime100]

Yeah. I couldn't help but feel bad for the players. They were innocent but were caught in no man's land. Or should I say no fan's land.

 

[Double Barrel]

Interesting article, especially considering the likely lame-duck Raiders will be playing in Oakland for two seasons while they build a new stadium in Las Vegas (if the deal goes through).

I'm not so sure the NFL learned a damn thing, other than don't get played by Drayton McLane and Bob Lanier.

Houston fans should have fought harder for the rights to the Oilers, though. Bud was just being a bitter a-hole about it. The people in Nashville could not give a rat's ass about Oilers history.

 

[Speedy]

Houston fans should have fought harder for the rights to the Oilers, though. Bud was just being a bitter a-hole about it. The people in Nashville could not give a rat's ass about Oilers history.

I get that Nashville don't have a care in the world about anything Oilers. I mean, before the move they were all probably Redskins fans. It's just that the Titans franchise is the same organization that played here. So giving us the history and putting it with the Texans or whatever, doesn't make much sense either because the Texans are not the Oilers.

It sucks for those of us who lived through it because all of our history is really kind of in limbo. And just the fact that I have to look up the Titans to see our history makes me ill. But in 50 years nobody will care just like New Yorkers don't give a rats ass about the Dodgers or the baseball Giants. The Mets don't have New York Giants history and they shouldn't. The Phillies don't have Oakland A's history and they shouldn't. The Texans shouldn't have Oilers history, and I say that even if Houston would have been able to name the new franchise Oilers.

The Browns got all their history back, and I don't know Browns fans take on it, but to me, these current Browns just aren't the same as the Browns that had Paul Brown, Jim Brown, and on through to Bernie Kosar, no matter what the record books now say. But that's because I lived through that too. In 50 years, no one will even know those Jim Brown Browns are the Tokyo Ravens.

 

[Double Barrel]

I get that Nashville don't have a care in the world about anything Oilers. I mean, before the move they were all probably Redskins fans. It's just that the Titans franchise is the same organization that played here. So giving us the history and putting it with the Texans or whatever, doesn't make much sense either because the Texans are not the Oilers.

It sucks for those of us who lived through it because all of our history is really kind of in limbo. And just the fact that I have to look up the Titans to see our history makes me ill. But in 50 years nobody will care just like New Yorkers don't give a rats ass about the Dodgers or the baseball Giants. The Mets don't have New York Giants history and they shouldn't. The Phillies don't have Oakland A's history and they shouldn't. The Texans shouldn't have Oilers history, and I say that even if Houston would have been able to name the new franchise Oilers.

The Browns got all their history back, and I don't know Browns fans take on it, but to me, these current Browns just aren't the same as the Browns that had Paul Brown, Jim Brown, and on through to Bernie Kosar, no matter what the record books now say. But that's because I lived through that too. In 50 years, no one will even know those Jim Brown Browns are the Tokyo Ravens.

I get all that and I do not disagree with you. I'm ambivalent about all of it, and if the Texans weren't such a mediocre franchise, it would not even be an issue. tbh, I'm not sure that I would want the records to a franchise that blew a 35-3 lead in a playoff game. As fans, we can relate to Falcons fans right now to a certain extent. That is the kind of stain that really never washes off. They truly have no idea...

Who I really feel bad for are the old Oilers players. They are in limbo. Yeah, they get 'honored' by memories of Houston fans, but everything they ever did in the NFL are now in Nashville, a city that none of them played in with the exception of guys that lived through the move.

I don't know...I've got mixed feelings about it...and it makes me feel old. My two sons are big football fans and the Oilers history means absolutely nothing to them, so your point about 50 years from now is true even now. They are Texans fans and all that matters to them begins in 2002.