Wife Of Texans Owner Implies Titans Lobbied NFL To Limit How Much ‘H-Town Blue’ Could Be Used For New Uniforms

The Texans are one of a handful of NFL teams that decided to revamp their uniforms ahead of the upcoming campaign, and it appears they ran into a bit of a hurdle based on what their owners had to say about their attempts to embrace a shade of blue associated with a franchise that used to call the city home.

In 2002, the Houston Texans played their inaugural season five years after H-Town found itself without an NFL team for the first time since the AFL merger when the Oilers relocated to Tennessee and rebranded as the Titans.

It took the Texans around a decade to truly find their footing (they didn’t appear in the playoffs until their 10th season), but they were able to cultivate a dedicated fanbase in Houston and seem to have a pretty bright future ahead of them based on how C.J. Stroud looked during his rookie year.

On Tuesday, the Texans did what the Jets, Lions, and Broncos had already done in the offseason by unveiling a new set of uniforms.

The home and away jerseys were both subjected to some fairly subtle tweaks, but the reveal also included the first look at the “Battle Red” alternate as well as a Color Rush featuring a new logo that harnesses the “H-Town blue” the Oilers were known for rocking (which is also used as an accent).

There are undoubtedly plenty of Texans fans who would’ve preferred to see that shade used a bit more prominently, and based on what owner Cal McNair and his wife Hannah had to say during an appearance on SportsRadio 610 on Tuesday, they were in the same boat but ultimately had to settle after running into some pushback.

Cal shed some light on the creative process, saying:

“We worked with the NFL, and there was some push and shove and we came to where we could get to with the NFL, giving us a compromise, sort of a certain percentage in the uniform.

I think our fans would like more, and we’re probably in that same boat, but we’re working with the powers that be with the league and all that stuff to get to where we could get.”

Hannah was slightly less diplomatic while discussing what went down and seemed to imply the Titans reached out to the NFL after learning the Texans were hoping to embrace a light blue scheme, saying:

“I think even publicly we discussed that we were going to be able to use a different color than Columbia Blue, so when that was released and we got approval to do that, that’s when we started getting some pushback.

And then it got to a point where they just said no you can’t, and then we compromised.”

This is the latest chapter in a miniature saga that began when the Titans not only decided to break out the Oilers throwbacks in 2023 but opted to wear them when they headed down to Houston in December.

The Texans ultimately secured an overtime win to extend their winning streak over Tennessee to three games, and Hannah fueled that burgeoning rivalry by implying it can’t be called one right now,  bluntly stating “Well, first they need to beat us.”