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Houston wins NFL's 32nd franchise

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Posted: Wednesday October 06, 1999 11:22 PM

HOUSTON(AP) -- A new professional football team won't take the field in Houston until 2002, but sports fans in the nation's fourth-largest city already are cheering.

"It's incredible. Awsome. I can't even describe it - it's like Christmas all over again," said Glen Miller, 35, a lunchtime patron at Post Time Sports Bar & Grille. "It certainly proves that longshots do hit every once in a while."

That "longshot," businessman Bob McNair's $700 million bid for the National Football League's 32nd franchise, paid off Wedesday. NFL owners selected Houston over Los Angeles, long considered the front-runner for an expansion team.

Houston has been without an NFL team since its Oilers fled to Tennessee at the end of the 1996 season.

"We're on cloud nine," said Larry Dluhy, owner of Sports Collectibles of Houston. "The last two years with the Oilers gone there's been a huge vacancy. It's like an empty closet and now we've filled it back up."

The news had Mayor Lee Brown grinning, gripping a football and doing the verbal equivalent of an end-zone dance.

"Today we scored a touchdown for our fans, for our community and for our economy," he said. "So I say, welcome football back to our city and let's play ball."

U.S. Sen. Phil Gramm called it "a great day for Houston."

"Texans have always known that football is at the heart of Texas," he said in a prepared statement. "Now, the NFL knows."

Worries about shouldering much of the cost of a proposed $310 million stadium for the team tempered the enthusiasm of some fans. Hotel and car rental taxes will pay $195 million of the stadium's construction.

"I'm sure everybody in Houston feels good about it except some of the people who will be left out because they can't afford to go watch the team play," said sports fan Steve Steger, 65. "The city's infrastructure is crumbling while we spend billions on sports teams."

Others wondered why the city failed to show similar support for the Oilers, whose owner, Bud Adams, moved his franchise after being denied a new stadium.

"I think a lot of fans still regret there's no more Houston Oilers," said former Oiler receiver Charlie Hennigan, 64, who in 1960 scored the Oilers' first touchdown.

But even Hennigan, who says his heart belongs to the Titans, was pleased by Wednesday's announcement.

"Who wouldn't be glad to have a team here in our backyard?" he said. "What would be even better if the Titans come in to play them. That would be great."

 

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Houston franchise owner Bob McNair says everything is ready to roll in Houston. (207 K) Mayor Richard Riordian of Los Angles would rather not take a team from another city. (153 K) NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue says fans played an important roll in the decision. (100 K) Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says Houston is a big winner. (196 K) Visit Multimedia Central for the latest audio and video
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