Moments in NFL History: The road from Texas to Nashville
Foodies from all over the world have made the trip from Texas to Tennessee to try other versions of famous barbeque along with a hot chicken sandwich. While these foodies flock to these locations to try the local cuisine, there was another group that made this trek for football reasons instead.
On this date (June 12) in 1997, the Houston Oilers’ front office gathered to hold a news conference – not in Houston, but rather in Nashville – to announce the club intended to uproot itself and, starting in the fall of 1997, play home games in Tennessee. They became the Tennessee Oilers, a name they would use in the 1997 and 1998 NFL seasons.
“The relocation to Tennessee was very much scrutinized, yes, although it was ultimately the best for the organization,” Delaney McCourt, the current Tennessee Titans team historian and archivist, told the Hall of Fame. “The state of Tennessee, especially the city of Nashville, gave a new breath to the organization and put fire, if you will, under us. The inaugural logo represented the way the entire state of Tennessee housed, voted for and supported the Tennessee Oilers.”
As always with new beginnings, there were some struggles.
Due to NFL capacity requirements, only two stadiums were deemed suitable for the team to host games in the first season: the University of Tennessee’s Neyland Stadium in Knoxville and Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis. Due to the popularity of the Volunteers, owner Bud Adams chose to play nearly 200 miles away from their home base, in Memphis.
The attendance of these games was lacking, however, drawing fewer than 30,000 fans on average. The NFL granted a special exemption to the team, and in the 1998 season, they played their home games in Nashville at Vanderbilt Stadium.
While many changes took place in 1997 and 1998, the year 1999 brought some normalcy. Adams said the team would be moving away from the Oilers moniker, though keeping the illustrious history of the organization, and would be known as the Tennessee Titans. They would play in a new stadium opened in Nashville along the eastern bank of the Cumberland River.
In that same season, the newly christened Titans would make it all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV, where they famously came up “1 yard short” of victory. While the loss in the Super Bowl stung, the success the team had so early in their new history was a sign of great things to come.
Change can be difficult.
The Oilers-turned-Titans went through a lot of it in a short amount of time. Nearly 800 miles, a new city, a new name and eventually a new stadium were all part of this change for the organization – all within 2½ years. But the result of this change, and the history that came with it, was truly an influential moment in NFL history.
This article from the Hall of Fame Communications Team is part of recurring series celebrating memorable moments in NFL history.
