Barron Wortham and Reggie Lewis, after the last game at the Astrodome
December 15, 1996: The Cincinnati Bengals beat the Houston Oilers, 21-13 before just 15,131 fans at the Astrodome. Team founder/owner Bud Adams had already announced the team's move to Tennessee, and the fans took it out on him by not going.
The following Sunday, December 22, 1996, they played their final game as the Houston Oilers, beating the Ravens, 24-21 at Memorial Stadium in Baltimore.
Kenneth Stanley Adams Jr. was a 36-year-old executive with Phillips Petroleum in Oklahoma when he became a charter team owner in the American Football League, taking the Houston Oilers. They won the 1st 2 AFL Championships, in 1960 and 1961, and lost the AFL Championship Game in 1962 and 1967. They went into a down period that included the 1970 merger with the NFL, but by 1978, they were a Playoff team again, turning home games at the Astrodome into nationally-televised parties.
A.O. "Bum" Phillips, Oilers head coach from 1975 to 1980, compared the Oilers to the much more nationally-popular Dallas team, and said, "The Cowboys are America's Team, but the Oilers are Texas' Team."
But they couldn't get past the Pittsburgh Steelers and the Oakland Raiders into the Super Bowl, and the team was broken up. In 1987, Adams told the Houston city government that he would move the Oilers to Jacksonville if they didn't improve the Astrodome, including raising seating capacity and putting in more of what the place practically invented: Luxury boxes. He got his wish: In 1990, it was expanded from 50,000 to 62,439 seats, including 65 luxury boxes, and the Oilers stayed.
The expansion did not improve the lousy sightlines: The seats near the 50-yard line were the furthest from the playing field, while the closest ones were in the end zone. And as the Astros were the stadium's primary tenant, whenever there was a scheduling conflict, or any dispute between the Astros and the Oilers, the Astros would always win out. Hard to believe, considering that Texas is the football State.
By 1995, the Oilers' radio network, which had been statewide, had been reduced to 1 station in Houston. As a result, Harris County, owners of the Astrodome, agreed to let the Oilers out of their lease, to enable the move to Tennessee after the 1996 season, instead of 1997 as had been planned.
In 2002, the Houston Texans debuted. In the interim, the Tennessee Titans went to a Super Bowl, but lost. Since then, the Texans have been contenders more regularly than the Titans, so maybe Houston was better off.
Adams died in 2013, the next-to-last of the original AFL owners still involved with his team. (Ralph Wilson of the Buffalo Bills was the last, and died the next year.)
UPDATE: The Oilers had a team Hall of Fame. From their 1960 and '61 AFL Champions, they have inducted founding owner Kenneth "Bud" Adams, quarterback George Blanda, and safety and punter Jim Norton. From their 1967 AFL Finalists: Adams, Blanda, Norton, and safety Ken Houston.
From their 1978 and '79 AFC Finalists: Adams, head coach O.A. "Bum" Phillips, running back Earl Campbell, receiver Billy "White Shoes" Johnson, defensive end Elvin Bethea, and linebacker Robert Brazile.
From their teams that made the AFC Playoffs every season from 1987 to 1993: Adams, executives Mike Holovak and Floyd Reese, quarterback Warren Moon, guard Mike Munchak, and tackle Bruce Matthews. The franchise now known as the Tennessee Titans has also honored coach Jeff Fisher, quarterback Steve McNair, running back Eddie George, and tight end Frank Wycheck, who were with the team at the time of the move.
Adams, Phillips, Campbell, Bethea, Brazile, Moon, Munchak, Matthews have also been inducted into the Texas Sports Hall of Fame. So have 1970s receiver Mike Renfro and 1980s and '90s defensive lineman Ray Childress.
Running back Ken Hall, "The Sugar Land Express," of Texas A&M, quarterback Don Trull and receiver Larry Elkins of Baylor University, and defensive tackle Lewis "Bud" McFadin of the University of Texas were also elected, and played for the Oilers in their founding days of the 1960s. Jack Pardee starred as a linebacker for Texas A&M, the Los Angeles Rams and the Washington Redskins, before serving as a head coach in Houston, for both the USFL's Gamblers and the Oilers.
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December 15, 1996 was a Sunday. Ukrainian soccer player Oleksandr Zinchenko was born.
These other games were played in the NFL:
* The New York Giants lost to the New Orleans Saints, 17-3 at Giants Stadium in the Meadowlands.
* The Carolina Panthers beat the Baltimore Ravens, 27-16 at Ericsson Stadium (now Bank of America Stadium) in Charlotte.
* The St. Louis Rams beat the Atlanta Falcons, 34-27 at the Georgia Dome in Atlanta.
* The Jacksonville Jaguars beat the Seattle Seahawks, 20-13 at Jacksonville Municipal Stadium (now EverBank Stadium).
* The San Francisco 49ers beat the Pittsburgh Steelers, 25-15 at Three Rivers Stadium in Pittsburgh.
* The Green Bay Packers beat the Detroit Lions, 31-3 at the Silverdome in the Detroit suburb of Pontiac, Michigan.
* The Minnesota Vikings beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, 21-10 at the Metrodome in Minneapolis.
* The Indianapolis Colts beat the Kansas City Chiefs, 24-19 at Arrowhead Stadium in Kansas City.
* The Dallas Cowboys beat the New England Patriots, 12-6 at Texas Stadium in the Dallas suburb of Irving, Texas.
* The Denver Broncos beat the Oakland Raiders, 24-19 at Mile High Stadium in Denver.
* The Arizona Cardinals beat the Washington Redskins, 27-26 at Sun Devil Stadium (now Mountain America Stadium) in the Phoenix suburb of Tempe, Arizona.
* The day before, the New York Jets lost to the Philadelphia Eagles, 21-20 at Giants Stadium.
* Also the day before, the Chicago Bears beat the San Diego Chargers, 27-14 at Soldier Field in Chicago.
* And the night after, on ABC Monday Night Football, the Miami Dolphins beat the Buffalo Bills, 16-14 at Pro Player Stadium (now Hard Rock Stadium) in Miami Gardens, Florida.
Baseball was out of season. There were 4 games in the NBA:
* The Detroit Pistons beat the Boston Celtics, 99-89 at The Palace in the Detroit suburb of Auburn Hills, Michigan.
* The Phoenix Suns beat the Vancouver Grizzlies, 103-84 at the America West Arena (now the Mortgage Matchup Center) in Phoenix.
* The Washington Wizards beat the Golden State Warriors, 110-102 at the San Jose Arena (now the SAP Center). The Warriors played there that season, while the Oakland Coliseum Arena was being renovated. Latrell Sprewell scored 43 points in defeat for them.
* And Houston fared better in the NBA that day: The Houston Rockets beat the Portland Trail Blazers, 99-89 at the Rose Garden (now the Moda Center) in Portland.
And there were 6 games in the NHL:
* The Philadelphia Flyers beat the Boston Bruins, 6-0 at the new CoreStates Center (now the Xfinity Mobile Arena) in Philadelphia.
* The Florida Panthers beat the Edmonton Oilers, 6-0 at the Miami Arena.
* The Dallas Stars beat the Ottawa Senators, 4-0 at the Corel Centre (now the Canadian Tire Centre) in Ottawa.
* In an "Original Six" matchup, the Detroit Red Wings beat the Toronto Maple Leafs, 3-1 at the Joe Louis Arena in Detroit.
* The Chicago Blackhawks beat the Pittsburgh Penguins, 2-1 at the United Center in Chicago.
* And the Vancouver Canucks beat the St. Louis Blues, 8-0 at the Kiel Center (now the Enterprise Center) in St. Louis.
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