December 29, 2001
Chapter 16:
Heir McNair
by Bob Hulsey
HoustonProFootball.com
A city with the fourth largest population in the country ought to be a no-brainer as a place to put a National Football League franchise. Then again, so should the city with the second largest population.
While it seemed a travesty that Bud Adams’ Oilers would desert Houston for the much smaller market of Nashville, the NFL poobahs had a bigger hole to fill. And a bigger reason to fill it.
When Art Modell, who, along with Al Davis and Jerry Jones, consistently led the league in face time during NFL telecasts, moved the storied Cleveland Browns to Baltimore (who had themselves been jilted by the Colts), there was outrage from shore to shore. Unlike Houston football fans, the longsuffering Cleveland fans were immediately embraced as victims of a greedy owner who “sold out” their city’s favorite sons. Pressure grew so great that NFL Commisioner Paul Tagliabue promised a new franchise for Cleveland to begin play in 1999. In addition, the city, not the ballclub, would retain the nickname, colors, records and logo of the old Browns. Houston, by contrast, was given none of these tangibles. Everything left Houston with Bud.
This meant the NFL would have 31 teams and odd numbers of franchises bode ill for a sport that plays just once a week. So the hunt grew in earnest for a 32nd franchise.
If Oiler fans had any consolation, they could at least know they had been dumped by only one team. Los Angeles got dumped twice. Traffic, real estate and sprawl had made the City of Angels a devilish city for anyone wishing to make a go of an NFL franchise. Davis’ Raiders, who just the decade before had thought they’d found nirvana in Southern California, returned to Oakland after failing to either replace or remodel the historic Los Angeles Coliseum, site of the 1932 and 1984 Olympics, and which was now located in one of L.A.’s seedier neighborhoods. Further causing problems was the fact that the old jewel seated over 100,000 fans making it tough to sell out and show the home games on local television.
Davis learned the hard way what Georgia Frontiere already knew. The way the NFL’s Grande Dame became part of this exclusive good old boy’s club is a story too long and sordid to tell but suffice it to say she became the owner of the Los Angeles Rams when her husband was sucked into an undertow one day while taking a swim in the Atlantic. Georgia had already vacated the Coliseum for spiffier Anaheim but was unhappy with the grounds, which were still primarily a baseball park. As if to give Angelenos a double dose of heartbreak, the Raiders and Rams both left after the 1994 season. Frontiere was wooed to St. Louis (which had themselves been jilted by the Cardinals).
So Tagliabue had more to worry about than a sudden vacancy in South Texas. It made no sense that a region in Southern California could support two pro baseball teams, two pro basketball teams and two pro ice hockey teams (!) yet couldn’t support one NFL team. The NFL was hellbent on putting the 32nd team in Los Angeles.
There was one problem. The list of potential owners for that franchise were a bit underwhelming. And finding a spot for the prerequisite new stadium would prove equally tough. One suitor was oil tycoon Marvin Davis who had run more unsuccessful campaigns to own pro sports franchises than Pat Buchanan has made unsuccesful bids for the White House. Among his past offers were to buy the Chicago White Sox, the Oakland A’s, the San Francisco Giants and the Rams. Davis had trouble lining up investors for the new project.
Entertainment mogul Michael Ovitz was another possibility. He had visions of tearing down the Coliseum and replacing it with a new one that came complete with a shopping mall, hotels and office complexes. He also entertained ideas of building something similar in nearby Carson. Again, the underlying financial commitment appeared somewhat shaky. Tagliabue was reluctant to commit.
Meanwhile, in Houston, a pair of would-be owners thought an expansion team would be right for Texas. Bob McNair and Chuck Watson had failed to bring a National Hockey League team to the Space City, but soon shifted their attention to a sport for which Texans hold a greater passion.
McNair made his fortune in energy cogeneration. A native of Tampa, Florida and educated in South Carolina, McNair moved to Houston in 1960, the same year the Oilers started play. Replacing the Oilers would be an uphill climb. He first approached the NFL at an owners meeting in late 1997. The response was cordial but not promising. The owners really wanted a team for L.A.
McNair, along with local leaders and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, announced plans to build a retractable roof stadium near the Astrodome for both football and the rodeo. McNair formed Houston NFL Holdings to represent his bid. In 1998, the NFL owners officially approved the Cleveland franchise but held off approving the other expansion city. They planned to settle the issue the following April. The move was meant to give Los Angeles more time to put together a bid.
In February of 1999, the league announced three “finalists” in their expansion hunt — two for Los Angeles and one for Houston. In April, they voted 29-2 to give the franchise to Los Angeles — contingent on one of the proposed groups solidifying their funding and plans. Ovitz trotted out blueprints the next month for a rebuilt Coliseum. The NFL was not sold. The owners had given Los Angeles until September to put together a sound offer. It was clear the league wanted desperately to have a team in L.A., but not so much so that they were willing to take a bad deal. That summer, Tagliabue told McNair that he could get the franchise if he sweetened the deal.
Marvin Davis gave up in September. Ovitz could not find the support he needed. In October, the NFL gave Houston the 32nd National Football League franchise after McNair offered a $700 million bid, the richest yet for an expansion franchise in any sport. The Bayou City was back on the NFL map.
Because the new stadium still needed to be built, McNair was given until 2002 to start play. Slowly, the organization grew. The first football-related hire was Charley Casserly as General Manager. His experience had been building and running the Washinton Redskins from the time Bobby Beathard left for San Diego to the time Daniel Snyder bought the team and forced him out. Casserly could claim credit for building Super Bowl winners but was also the target for personnel moves that didn’t pan out, most notably the high draft pick used on quarterback Heath Shuler, who proved a bust.
Casserly’s first on-field hire was Dom Capers as the Head Coach. Capers had experience with expansion teams after being the first head coach of the Carolina Panthers. He later worked for the Jacksonville Jaguars, another young franchise who entered the league along with Carolina. Capers’ forte was building stellar defenses as he did for Pittsburgh before moving to Carolina. After the new Browns fired their first coach, Chris Palmer, he too was brought aboard as the first offensive coordinator. No doubt the coaching staff will be prepared to deal with the unique problems of starting a team from the ground floor.
Naming the new team was one of the first real headaches. Adams had refused to give away the “Oilers” name as Modell had the Browns. Several polls and focus groups were done and the clear favorite of McNair’s was the “Texans.” It was a name with a past. The National Football League, the American Football League and the short-lived World Football League had teams by that name — the first two in Dallas and the last one in Houston. Two of those teams failed miserably and dissolved. The other moved away after three seasons.
The name didn’t seem to have overwhelming sway with the fans. After receiving thousands of suggestions, the club announced five finalists in March of 2000. Besides Texans, the other finalists were Apollos, Bobcats, Stallions and Wildcatters. The naming was pushed back further, the finalists now having been narrowed to three. There would be no “cats” in the running.
Finally, in Septmeber at a downtown ceremony, the name and logo were revealed. “Texans,” by then, was no surprise but the logo of a red-white-and-blue bull’s head with a star for an eye did open some discussions about whether it was too close to a Texas Longhorn for local Aggies to support.
A year later, the Texans unveiled their uniforms. Home jerseys would be dark blue with white numerals. The road jerseys white with red numerals. The helmets had the bull logo against a dark blue background.
The next task awaiting the team is to fill those uniforms with skilled players. On December 29th, the Texans took their first step by signing ten players not under an NFL contract for the 2001 season. The expansion draft, free agency and the 2002 NFL draft will give the first glimpse of what the new kids in town will be like as they prepare for their first game, the Hall of Fame exhibition in Canton, Ohio.
It would be unrealistic to think that their success would match the first few years of the Oilers, but the hope is that they’ll eventually win the Super Bowls that the Oilers never could.
Bob Hulsey has a journalism degree from the University of Texas at Austin. He has worked in print and radio covering sports throughout Texas since 1976. He presently works for a telecommunications company in Austin.
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