🤫🛢️ pic.twitter.com/7rsmlreFsb
— Tennessee Titans (@Titans) May 2, 2023
We’ve known for a while that the Tennessee Titans would be breaking out Oilers throwbacks in 2023 — beat writer Jim Wyatt spilled the beans on that news two months ago. But now we have our first confirmation from the team itself, as well as a time frame for the unveiling.
That news came in a short teaser video that the Titans posted on their social media channels on Tuesday (although I didn’t become aware of it until this morning). As you can see above, it shows a helmet being dipped in a barrel of oil — a not-so-subtle hint of the upcoming throwback. A text overlay says, “Coming Summer 2023,” so the unveiling is still more than a month away.
The Titans join three other NFL teams that have announced (but not yet unveiled) new throwbacks for 2023: the Eagles, Bucs, and Seahawks. In addition, I’ve heard behind-the-scenes chatter about another NFL team possibly adding a throwback this season — stay tuned for more on that.
What a slap in the face to all the Houston fans.
You know and I know and everyone else knows they will wear them against the Texans
Not an Houston or Tennessee fan at all, but I really think that Houston at least make an attempt to purchase the name and all that comes with it. I know they were the Oilers for a time in Tennesse, but it makes no sense. Everything has a price, and I wouldn’t mind Houston getting the name then rebranding as the Oilers. The Texans name and uniforms have always felt like they belonged in the XFL or some other league.
Amy would never sell out like that. Maybe after she dies but even then I doubt it.
I hope it turns out to be a Hornets-Bobcats situation. I’ve always been fascinated by that, the team that moved being changed to a retroactive expansion team.
Well Ya’ll should have supported Bud when he wanted a new stadium… Instead the city allows an expansion rip off to get a new stadium instead. So yeah it should be a slap in the face because it shows how terrible it was for the league and the city of Houston to loose such an iconic name, logo, and uniforms.
I will be thrilled to see these uniforms on the gridiron once again.
Love this uniform but hate that they didn’t leave this name and history with the city of Houston and the expansion team that would replace them.
This will haunt me for the rest of my life. I even more pissed about it now than I was when it happened. Of course I was only 11 years old when they left but this is one of those things that isn’t fading with time…it’s only hurting worse.
I’m on the fence on this one, I’m a Chargers’ fan since 1979 so on the one hand I like that they kept the name when they moved to LA (I’m still a fan of the team) but if San Diego ever got a new franchise it would’ve been cool if they had kept the name.
FWIW from one who definitely doesn’t “get it”, all I’ll say is that as a diehard Browns fan for 50+ years, I have always wished they had taken the Browns name/identify/history with the team. There is so much dissonance trying to root for a team that very clearly isn’t the franchise I grew up rooting for. Dressing them up to look like the Browns only makes it worse.
A corporate entity leaving and going someplace else doesn’t make it the same thing, even if legally it is.
Are the Baltimore Ravens the Cleveland Browns? The answer is no.
Are the Cleveland Browns the Cleveland Browns? The answer is yes.
That is true for the current teams but the 1988 Cleveland Browns is the Baltimore Ravens history and not the current Cleveland Browns history.
Let the Texans have the goddang Oilers name already!
link
The Texans call and have a conversation with the Titans about their interest in the Oilers name. The Titans say they’re willing to have a discussion. The Texans say that name should be used instead of not being used. The Titans say well ok. The Texans say well we’d like for our team to be called the Oilers. The Titans say ok we’re willing to talk. That name is just sitting there gathering dust anyway. They have a chat and decide how terrible the Texans nickname is and the league would be better off with the Houston Oilers name active again. The Hornets did it. They come to some kind of settlement, maybe swap first rounders for a decade to see who picks higher each year. Even smug sports bloggers thought it was nice to see Columbia blue again.
I noticed in one of the videos from the NFL draft, when they called QB Will Levis, the owner was wearing an Oilers hat.
I know the Titans own the throwback rights to the Oilers, but this is worse than the Carolina Hurricanes throwing back to the Whalers. The Titans should do the right thing (a hard thing to imagine since they are fleecing the fine citizens of Tenn. for another subsidized stadium) and let the Texans wear throwback Oilers unis.
I can’t see how this is worse (and there’s nothing ‘bad’ about these teams throwing back to their time in other towns).
Houston was made whole 20 years ago with the awarding of the Texans, who currently have above-average – dare I say excellent – logos, uniforms, etc…
The Whalers left 20+ years ago and Hartford will never get a replacement – and that bye-gone branding deserves and is finally getting celebrated by the team of today…it’s worthy of a better fate than the Cleveland Barons.
The issue is that they never should have been allowed to take the name with them in the first place.
It’s 1) lazy, 2) the names don’t make sense anymore in a lot of relocation cases (Lakers, (Trolley) Dodgers, Oilers, Jazz, etc.), and 3) is disrespectful to both the place they are leaving and their new home.
If you don’t care enough about a community to stay, you also should no rights to the name, colors, history, trophies – any of it – when you go. At least Tennessee eventually dropped the Oilers identity and didn’t hang on to it, but if you aren’t going to actively use it, it should go back to the league, and Houston 100% should have been able to use it for the new team in 2002. Cashing in on another city’s legacy, that you left in the dust, is gross.
Titans were the Tennessee Oilers for two seasons and own the history. Also, I suggest you do research around the stadium deal. The taxpayers are not getting “fleeced.”
They did play briefly as the Tennessee Oilers, did they not? So they have some claim on the legacy, if just a little.
They played two seasons as the Tennessee Oilers.
Lee
The Titans have 100% claim to the Oilers branding…though I hope they continue to leave the silver helmet era in the legacy lockbox.
I love the silver helmet! That whole uni was great.
I get mad every time I see the LA Rams wearing the horns of my beloved St. Louis Rams. So help me if the Battlehawks ever move.
♥️
I imagine fans in LA felt the same way about seeing the St Louis Rams wearing the horns of their LA Rams….
That’s odd.
…and I get mad every time I see the LA or St. Louis Rams wearing the horns of my beloved Cleveland Rams. And so it goes…
You do of course realize the Cleveland Rams helmet never had horns. But since every post in this thread is TFPIC, we can let it slide.
It just feels WRONG having the Titans wear Oilers throwbacks
The return of the Luv Ya Blues is terrific news!
Thank you, Titans…now if they’d only ditch the pointy/sword motif and make the switch back to the Oilers template!
Let’s not forget it all began with the Cleveland Rams in 1937.
Watch this tease end up being for an all-black uniform. We all know they are going throwback but nothing about that tease says anything about powder blue throwbacks. All I see is a black helmet.
Titans in Oilers BFBS would actually be hilarious (in a bad/soul crushing way).
Lee
Yeah I’m not “calling it” or betting on it, or even taking any kind of stance in its favor, but watching this hype video immediately made me assume some kind of black “oil slick” alternate, and nothing in the 13 seconds that followed changed my mind.
I have heard that the Vikings are going to be wearing throwbacks in 2023. Very similar to the ones they wore in the late 2000’s. I don’t know how legit this rumor is but was told about it from someone I know who works for one of the Vikings’ corporate sponsors in the Twin Cities.
The team has been silent on the throwback uniforms for 2023 so who really knows. It wouldn’t surprise me if they incorporate throwback uniforms in 2023 as part of a tribute to the late legendary Bud Grant.
I just hope the Vikings are that “other” team that is referenced in the post above.
The titans need to just rebrand as the Tennessee Oilers and bring back those jerseys full time! They look so much better than heir current set.
I don’t care what city they’re in, it’s nice to see that the Oilers uniform are coming back onto the field.
And hopefully, it’s not a black helmet and uniform because that would be worse.
Christ…Houston gets the Oilers name back and then people piss and moan and wax nostalgic for the Texans. Where is that asteroid we were promised?
Looong overdue
The Titans own the Oilers name, history, logos, and uniforms,
Bud Adams wanted a new stadium in 1986 and was denied. He threatened to relocate the team to Jacksonville (the USFL Bulls had the best fan support in the league.) Houston decided they’d add seats to the Astrodome as they were already being forced by the federal government to add exterior ramps due the Americans with Disabilities Act. Fans in Houston like to whine non-stop about the money spent to upgrade the Astrodome, but the lions share was due the ADA.
In 1994, after being forced to blow up his teams roster due to the new NFL Salary Cap, Bud was tired of the Astrodome, the then 30 year old baseball stadium, that had the lowest capacity in the league and was literally falling apart (the only dome in history to have a football game “rained out” due to defective sprinklers.) Bud bent over backwards to keep the team in Houston. The Mayor (Bob Lanier) was against spending public money for the Oilers and at the last minute, Bud appealed to the new Governor, George W. Bush for state money to build a stadium and was denied, so he started talking to Nashville.
The ultimate irony in the whole thing is that during the saga, Lanier went to then Astros owner Drayton McLane (who controlled the Astrodome as their main tenant) and asked him if the Astrodome was in good enough shape or if Adams was blowing smoke and McLane said the Astrodome was in great shape for a 30 year old stadium.
Adams and the Oilers left (on bad terms, obviously) and almost immediately following, both the Astros and Rockets demanded new facilities. The Astros threatened to move to Washington DC if they didn’t get one.
By the time the Oilers were playing games in Tennessee in 1997, plans were already being made for the Rockets and Astros, and Houston was already talking about building a new NFL stadium, a couple years later, Houston was awarded the franchise that was initially earmarked for Los Angeles, but Los Angeles couldn’t get their act together.
Bud Adams had a vendetta against Houston for not giving him a new stadium. His daughter will honor his legacy.
If the Titans ever get out from under the Adams family, it could feasibly happen, but I don’t see it.
Cal McNair is in the same boat as Amy Adams, Cal’s father founded and built the Texans and I doubt he’s itching to completely get rid of the Texans as we know them.
The Tennessee Titans are the Tennessee Oilers and the Houston Oilers, they wore the teams logos and uniforms in 1997 and 1998, then again during the 2009 season for the AFL’s 50th Anniversary. They have more claim than fans that occasionally bought tickets and unceremoniously ran the team out of town.
The crazy thing is… if they’d have just built NRG Stadium for Bud, it would have been cheaper being built 5 years earlier, and they would have had a Super Bowl team by 1999.
I suggested earlier that both teams should wear Oilers uniforms for the occassion and after that it is over and done with. Tennessee in home whites, Texans in columbia blue. Like a scrimmage game in college.
I really, really hope the team adding a throwback uni is the Jets, throwing back to the ’80s-era look. And that hopefully leads to a phase out of their latest Nike look. One can dream…
^THIS