The Tennessee Titans announced a decision to change their uniforms starting in 2025 by embracing light “Titans’ Blue” as their primary color heading into the future. In the announcement, they also said they were going to shelve the Houston Oilers throwbacks and stick with their primary uniforms in 2025.
The decision sparked heated discussions on social media and stirred up many emotions in what has been a contentious, decades-long battle over the rights to the Oilers’ history.
The color is synonymous with the Oilers and has been a franchise staple since its founding in 1960. But there has been a battle over the color going on inside cities and the NFL since former owner Bud Adams moved the Oilers to Tennessee in 1998. In the move, Adams did something that had never been done before: he shed its name and shelved it, preventing the franchise that backfilled the market from ever using it.
This has forced the NFL to preside over many different battles centered on these two cities and franchises. For years, the Houston Texans have tried to claim the color, only to be rebuffed by Titans owner Amy Adams Strunk at every turn. Now, with the Titans making this change to their primary uniforms, Texans fans are outraged. In an article by Brooks Kubena for The Athletic, the battle for this intellectual property is outlined and the history of this feud is laid out.
According to league sources, there was once a perception within the Texans organization that there were discussions for Houston to possibly regain the Oilers history and intellectual property. But any pipe dream of the Titans ever relinquishing the Oilers intellectual property and history to the Texans would likely elicit an expletive if expressed inside the Titans’ facility.
For all the complaints that Titans fans have of Strunk, her love of the franchise and its history cannot be denied. Since taking over from her father, she has gone out of her way to embrace Oilers history and make everything involving the organization a family affair split between two cities and generations.
For Texans fans that remember the “Luv Ya Blue” era in Houston, the coming seasons may be a bit disheartening but they will have to get used to it. As long as Strunk owns the Titans, the Oilers and their colors will be living on in Nashville.
This article originally appeared on Titans Wire: Report: Texans considered attempt to regain rights to Oilers' history
