Texans Reached 'Compromise' with Titans, NFL over Oilers-Style Blue in New Uniforms
Scott Polacek@@ScottPolacek
Featured Columnist IVApril 24, 2024
The Houston Texans and Tennessee Titans are AFC South rivals on the field, but they compromised on something off it.
Texans CEO Cal McNair and vice president of the Texans foundation Hannah McNair made a Tuesday appearance on SportsRadio 610 in Houston (h/t Mike Florio of Pro Football Talk) and explained that they worked with the NFL and the Titans to receive permission to use the Houston Oilers-style Columbia Blue in an alternate uniform.
"We worked with the NFL, and there was some push and shove and we came to where we ... could get to with the NFL, giving us a compromise, and sort of a certain percentage in the uniform," Cal McNair said. "And I think our fans would like more. And we're probably in that same boat, but we're working with the powers-that-be with the league and all that stuff to get to where we could get."
The Titans used to play in Houston when they were the Oilers but moved to Tennessee ahead of the 1997 campaign.
Florio noted the city of Houston didn't fight for the names, logos or colors like Cleveland did when the Browns initially left the city. That means the Titans still use the Oilers uniforms and colors as throwbacks.
What's more, the NFL forced the University of Houston to stop using Oilers-style alternate uniforms last year.
"I think there was some talk," Hannah McNair said. "I think even publicly we discussed that we were going to be able to use a different color than Columbia Blue, and so when that was released and we got approval to do that, that's when we started getting pushback. . . . And then it got to a point where they just said, 'No, you can't,' and then we compromised."
While it isn't the dominant color in the alternate uniforms for the Texans, it does come through in places:
There is always going to be something of a strange connection between the Titans and Texans, whose debut season was in 2002, given the history of the Tennessee organization, but they apparently worked together for a compromise in this instance.