Why Are the Tennessee Titans Wearing Houston Oilers Uniforms?

While uniforms may seem like simple items of clothing, there’s something more at play. Beyond logistics, like differentiating between the teams, uniforms are a cornerstone of a franchise’s brand. Try to imagine, for example, the New York Yankees without pinstripes or the Dallas Cowboys without a star. It simply doesn’t work.

But, zooming outward, unis also matter to the folks in the stands. While fandom can be diverse and scattered across the world, there’s no clearer way to show your allegiance than wearing some branded apparel.

So, not that we’ve established the importance of sports uniforms, why are the Tennessee Titans changing things up and wearing Houston Oilers uniforms?

The answer, as with so many things, comes down to history.

The Titans Are Honoring Their Oilers History in 2023

These days, the Tennessee Titans are simply part of the NFL landscape. The franchise as we now know it, however, is a relatively recent addition to the scene.

The organization started in the 1960 football season, playing as the AFL’s Houston Oilers. When the upstart league merged with the NFL, the club made the jump into the big time. But, decades later, another change was on the cards.

In 1997, the club headed east and became the Tennessee Oilers. That name never felt at home in the Volunteer State, though, and the club rebranded ahead of the 1999 campaign. The Titans had entered the NFL scene.

But, despite that change of identity, the franchise’s continuity remained intact. This wasn’t a new organization; it was a rebranding of the old Oilers. The Texans, despite filling the Houston void, were an expansion franchise starting with a blank slate.

That reality gives the Titans latitude to honor their previous history, which they’ve done in 2023. The club rocked throwback Oilers uniforms—featuring pale “Love Ya Blue” jerseys and a white helmet adorned with an oil derrick—during an October date with the Falcons and will trot them out again on December 17 against the Houston Texans.

“It allows us to honor as many players as we can, because it covers so much time,” Surf Melendez, Titans Vice President and Executive Creative Director, said according to the team’s website. “It also represented our transition to Tennessee, because we wore these uniforms in Tennessee as well.”

And while wearing the old Houston uniforms against the Texans may be a bit touchy, the legendary Warren Moon is firmly in the Titans’ corner.

“I know this is a very sensitive subject in Houston, but the Texans never really reached out to any of the [former Oilers] and never made it feel like they wanted anything to do with the Oilers,” Moon told the Titans’ website. “They wanted to just create their own identity. And since [owner] Amy [Adams Strunk] has taken over, she has really had a passion for the Houston Oilers—she wanted to bring everybody into one family, Oilers and Titans, and that’s why she’s had these alumni weekends, and been doing that for the last five years.

“Now all the Oilers feel really comfortable going to Nashville every year for their reunion, and they never had a reunion before Amy came aboard. I know my number is retired in the stadium in Nashville, and it’s where I’m in the Ring of Honor, and that’s what I identify with now.”

Throwback jerseys, highlighting the link between Houston and Tennessee, will only further that connection.