
The University of Houston is still laughing in the face of the NFL’s now 14-month-old cease and desist letter, as the Cougars have introduced another “H-Town Blue” uniform for one of their sports teams, this time for men’s basketball.
The UH football team first added an alternate uni that was…let’s say heavily inspired by the old Oilers uniforms in August of 2023. When those unis made their on-field debut in September of that year (for the Cougars’ home opener), the NFL responded with a cease-and-desist letter in October, as the Oilers name, logo, and identity are still owned by the Tennessee Titans, who to this day still wear Oilers unis as throwbacks (including against the Houston Texans, which I find distasteful and a tad insulting to Houstonians).
UH essentially responded to the cease-and-desist by saying “screw that noise” and have continued adding H-Town Blue unis for their sports teams. In November, they revealed two new alternates for their volleyball team, one white and one blue. The UH women’s golf team has been wearing the color for tournaments throughout the fall. Now, the school has added a blue alternate for their men’s basketball team. The unis will make their on-court debut next Saturday against Texas Tech.
..#ForTheCity x #GoCoogs pic.twitter.com/6LhrOWjaHz
— Houston Men’s Hoops (@UHCougarMBK) January 22, 2025
The university’s position is that the color represents not just the Oilers, but all of Houston, and they’ve taken to calling the specific shade used on these unis “Houston blue”. The university notes that a similar shade is used on Houston’s curbstone mosaics, and was used by the city’s police vehicles from the 1960s through the 1990s.
As for the unis themselves, they feature the same wordmark every other Houston Blue uni has, as well as a similar number font. The shorts waistband features a white star in a blue rectangle, evoking the flag of Houston.
For the NFL’s part, there’s been no movement on the cease-and-desist in the year-plus since they issued it. To date, no lawsuit has been filed seeking to constrain UH’s use of the color, though the NFL may have been satisfied that UH changed the helmet, sleeve, and pants striping of the football uni to be less Oilers-y, as you can see in this photo from 2023 and this one from 2024. Maybe those changes were enough to get the NFL off their case.
I wouldn’t be mad if U of H switched the school colors to this full time.
These look like they were designed to just be in the background of a TV movie scene.
They might be the most boring basketball uniforms of all time.
I’ll take this over 90% of the “exciting” NBA City Jerseys.
As I have pointed out several times before, this is the ultimate chutzpah on the part of the Titans, since the Jets, who had the rights to the Titans name gave it to Tennessee for FREE. How come no one ever raises that point in any of these stories?
It is quite similar to when the A’s gave the Giants the rights to San Jose to help them get funding for their new stadium, and then when the A’s wanted to move to San Jose, the Giants essentially told them “screw you”!
I for one wholeheartedly agree with you on the Titans’ breaking a golden rule, originally do unto others as you would want them to do unto you; not exact but you’d get my point. They are being stupid, but give credit to UH for finding a way to make that color of blue work.
As for these uniforms: Other than the great color scheme, these look more like practice suits. But maybe they’re edging into the details instead of getting blasted
Let’s see…
The current Houston NFL team, in the league for 2 decades +) has a recycled team name, one that KC NFL ‘let’ them use. Now the Texans want to lay claim to a hue they call (and let’s be honest- no one else did until about what, 2 seasons ago) H-Town Blue. Why? No, not because they give a hoot about its (coincidental) tie to Houston, and not celebrate the former Houston NFL team – there’s no Oiler retired # or meaningful representation at ‘AstroDome II’ (paid for with a lot more tax $ than what Bud was asking for). It’s to sell stuff. That the University is glomming onto the trend is as sad and pathetic as what the Texans have kick-started. I for one am glad that the Adams’ have retained the branding of their franchise lock stock and barrel, and that Commisser Taglibue supported their ownership of the look.
The lack of any stripes is disappointing – but I understand and can live with it.
Good call. The lack of stripes makes them look like practice jerseys.
Good. No person/company should ever be able to “own” a color.
Perhaps, but in this case the Adams family does…and when they obtained ownership over 20 years ago, no one cared all that much…in Houston or anyplace else. What’s changed? Merchandising!
The Adams Family may want to own this shade of blue but the much more lovable Addams Family’s color is every shade of black…
Phi Slamma Jamma anyone?
I don’t understand how a league or team can claim a color, or colors.
General copyright law on this comes down to this: does this logo cause public confusion? While I agree that the Titans’ actions are bush league, I also think someone purchasing a light blue T-shirt with “Houston” in white and red could potentially mistakenly think it was affiliated with the Oilers.
Time for the city of Houston and its teams to get over this. Just beat any team from the state of Tennessee in your own colors, that is the sweetest revenge.