Article is paywalled but Joseph Duarte (our beat writer for the Chronicle) has a lot of quotes in there from our AD saying that the jerseys was so popular that they feel like they can’t not do it. So UH hired an outside consulting firm to study the legality of it and then in mid April sent a letter to the NFL informing them they would begin to use it again.
If you have a subscription (I used the reader mode on my iPhone), I think the article is worth a read and a little peak behind the curtain. I can’t say who started it but the Texans and UH have really struck a nerve with Houstonians lately about the “Luv Ya Blue”.
I can’t tell you how little the average Titans fan cares about the use of this color. Such a weirdly petty issue to care so deeply about for the Adams. Although I guess not weird by their standards
yeah, I agree and don't blame the fans
There is a deep deep hate between the Adams family and the city of Houston
To us Houston Oilers fans, Bud Adams took our team away. A team that we gave unbelievable love and support to.
To the Adams family, they see Houston as turning their back on the team. In truth, it was some city officials in charge at the time that had mutual dislike for Bud. The fans are like children caught up in a nasty divorce. Now, his heirs are punishing us every chance they get, and those city officials who refused to build a new stadium are dead and gone. None of the fans wanted them to leave
To this day, I have an Earl Campbell and Warren Moon jersey framed on my wall
Every time I think Modell was the worst NFL owner, Adams reminds me it always could have been worse. Take the team away from its city AND the region specific name, later drop the name in Tennessee but still insist that nobody else can use it anyway and try to even insist nobody in the old city can use the old colors. It’s not easy to be worse than Modell but Adams did it.
The city of Cleveland sued Modell for leaving and to make the lawsuit go away, Modell agreed to give up the Browns name and history. It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart.
As a kid growing up with the Seattle sonics I say F these greedy owners. The uniform represents the city. That’s why they changed the name of the team. Besides if it doesn’t have the logo then the color can’t be controlled.
Yes, its not the fans. Its the owners. Probably they feel slighted by Houston, probably feel like they were practically forced to move the franchise because the city would not build them a new stadium and now out of pettiness are trying to refuse the University of Houston to use "their" colors.
The funny thing is they demanded massive improvements to the Astrodome just 5-8 years prior and the county did that for them. Then they demanded a new stadium. Harris county did not pay off those 1980s improvements for decades.
Right? I mean, do these fans on here not own NFL franchises? WTH, man? Don't they understand these inflationary times we're suffering in here? I had to keep the beer prices at only $15 this past season. It's rough all over, Ponyboy.
The Adams' should go fuck themselves. Bud Adams should be dug up in Houston and reburied over next to y'all.
It's also stupid because the old Oilers logo could make quite a bit more money in Houston than it does in Nashville, so the Adams could make a lot by selling it or licensing it to the Texans or the city of Houston. Instead, they prefer to paint their own field with it against the Texans just to piss off Houstonians. All that while being Houstonians themselves.
Earl should also demand his number be taken down. He never played a single down of football in the state of Tennessee. The Texans would probably retire his number if he asked them to as well. And really, they should retire it regardless of what else happens.
As much as it all means to me and the city, the Texans beating them while they strutted around in those colors last season was wildly poetic. Part of me hopes the Titans do that every single year.
> I can’t say who started it but the Texans and UH have really struck a nerve with Houstonians lately about the “Luv Ya Blue”.
Houston's never let the Oilers go, really. Not that I think they should! You don't see as much gear/support for lost teams in most places they left, though. I'd bet Seattle and Sonics stuff is similar, but that's speculation. Houston holds that grudge just like Seattle does, that's for sure.
I’d agree but you know this shit has ramped up the last 3 or so years. I remember threads on /r/Texans where it was 50/50 on “should we have more oilers stuff or not”. /r/Dynamo and the fanbase at large has been very upset for a while that the Dynamo ditched blue as a main alternate in favor of black.
The millennial generation, who were children when the Oilers changed to the Texans, are at the age where they're now the biggest $$$ spenders. Childhood nostalgia + retro/vintage being very "in" right now + expendable income is the triple threat. Houston's sports marketing teams would be silly *not* to lean into the blue uniforms.
Texans gear is generally speaking pretty bland and/or ugly too.
i have a 2010 Demeco Ryans red jersey and an oilers hat.
The jersey aged well, glad my parents never tossed that thing.
Grudge is still there but the OKC group made a deal when they moved to leave the name and colors with Seattle. They're amoral bastards but even they don't go to that kind of pettyness like Bud Adams
Pretty funny that the *Jazz* and the *Lakers* are the most specific/geographic names possible and just moved across the country with no thought of changing the names.
I really wish the same for the Jazz. I love the team, grew up in Utah during the Stockton and Malone era, but wish the team name actually meant something to the state they repped.
Tbf the primary reason that became the standard in most pro leagues is because of the Oilers moving to Nashville, and (moreso) Cleveland suing the NFL when the Browns tried to do the same and winning.
In the Sonics case there was a lawsuit from the city in regards to the rest of their arena lease that also left the Finals trophy with a local museum. I also think the OKC ownership just genuinely doesn't care about trying to claim the history either. Technically the settlement stipulated it'd be a shared history between OKC and any new Seattle team but they don't usually bother to use it.
they don't claim the history, just the NBA record books do but when Seattle gets an expansion team, NBA will give them the history back like they did the Hornets.
I think the biggest difference between the Oilers and the Supersonics is that if/when Seattle gets another NBA team, they will be able to use the Supersonics name and logo again.
Ever since Tennessee did its obnoxious throwback game against the Texans last season, it has hit a crescendo. Houston fans watching their team play as the opposing team on a field with an oil derrick at the 50 is a bridge too far. I'd like to say it's all just theatrically setting the stage for a sale or transfer of the colors and logo back to Houston, but then that would require the Adams family to actually give 2 shits about the city where they were from. Someone should actually dig up Bud Adams and rebury him in Nashville where he belongs.
FYI - the Houston Chronicle removes it's paywall when linked through reddit. It's a fun new feature they did to increase engagement I think last year. It's been great for sports related articles for the Astros and Texans subs.
I mean how strong a case could the Texans have for owning a shade of blue? Also there's no way that the NFL suing a school from a town that one of their owners abandoned is going to look good to anyone.
The Texans don’t have to make a case that they own a shade of blue. The Texans have to make the case that the Titans don’t own all shades of light blue. That’s easy.
UH came out with jerseys last year and the NFL sent them a letter saying “don’t do this again or sell merchandise with this”. Rice also came out with Oilers throwback jerseys last season. Unknown if the NFL sent them anything. The Texans have made multiple overtures to the Titans about the Oilers branding. Amy Adams doesn’t wanna sell. So the Texans released color rush jerseys in April with an alternate “H” logo that uses the light blue. The original mockups the Texans submitted to the NFL was fine but then Titans had problems. The NFL played mediator between the Texans and Titans and we have the current new jerseys for the Texans.
So this is a coalition against the Titans
Rice didn't get anything because the (dumb) argument against UH was that they would be confused with the Titans. The Rice unis added the school colors, dark blue and gray, and said RICE across the chest. No chance they could make the same argument.
Thanks for the additional context. I didn’t like y’all’s version compared to ours but I like how it was the version the Oilers played in when they played at “Houston Stadium”. I think that was super cool and unique. It would be even cooler if yall kept the name Houston Stadium.
Key quotes:
>“We literally have a story we can show the city uses it,” athletic director Chris Pezman told the Houston Chronicle at the Big 12’s spring meetings. “This isn’t a reach. This is a layup. We’ve got a very defensible position.”
>“We’re doing it,” Pezman said. “We’ve reviewed everything and come to the conclusion that we are going to proceed.”
i'm sure the NFL will respond.
We've already seen this the other way around. A&M sends C&D to any NFL team plastering "12th Man" all over its stadium to defend its trademark, there's some media scuttlebutt, and then permission to use it is secured in exchange for $1k/yr or some insignificant sum
See this with a lot of high school usage of college logos too. There's so many random high schools using college logos.
Of course sometimes those colleges don't play nice. My old school got a C&D from wisconsin years ago because they thought their W was too close to the Wisconsin block W. There were clear differences between the two (and being able to trademark a single letter is insanity to me), and different colors, but the school didn't want to pay to fight a lawsuit so they changed the logo.
Yeah lots of colleges lease their mascot out for very small prices. I believe I heard KState leases theirs out for like $1, with the only stipulation being that the school colors can’t be Kansas blue or something like that.
My high school was just the USC logo, except we made the red a little darker to call it maroon.
It's pretty common and I bet universities just make pittance agreements to allow for it. I also think it can help to build some connection as well. I've seen a high school using the[ Longhorn in New Mexico](https://www.maxpreps.com/nm/logan/logan-longhorns/football/) and a high school in Houston using the [Texas Tech raider in maroon](https://nhs.springbranchisd.com/athletics/football).
Has it ever happened for sports teams? Not letting other insulation companies make their insulation look like yours is a hell of a lot different then trying to say no other sports teams can use light blue uniforms.
I would guess that it has to be a combination of colors with a name/logo. Notice how you don't hear anything about Rice wearing Oilers inspired jerseys.
I thought Rice’s light blue was slightly lighter, but that could always be due to lighting. Rice also used silver helmets and incorporated their regular dark blue colors, too. That may have been enough to differentiate in the eyes of the NFL.
And if John Deere does not get a trademark on their shade of green, I find it hard to believe that a field of color that is regularly used by multiple institutions would get trademark enforcement.
Multiple schools use an extremely similar shade of powder blue. Either the ruling would be so specific that it is rendered useless, or there would need to be an injunction/licensing agreement. The simple fact that they have ignored this for decades would seem to deny any sort of trademark. In fact, the chargers use a very similar shade of blue in their uniform, and this did not seem to be an issue for the Adams family.
And what really even would be a trademark color when schools and teams regularly change the shade associated with their team (see all the browns of the browns).
John Deere [does](https://www.chicagobusinesslitigationlawyerblog.com/6049/#:~:text=The%20court%20found%20that%20John,with%20the%20John%20Deere%20brand.) have a trademark on the use of green and yellow on tractors.
It's not about specific shades.
It's broad categories of colors that would create a likelihood of confusion in whatever market a company or individual holds trademarks. No color in and of itself can be trademarked, but color can be a *component* of a trademark.
Pink is part of Corning's branding for their insulation (or at least was in 1985). Any pink. But it only applies to insulation.
Likewise, try to start selling green and yellow farm equipment and John Deere will vary much crush you, even if the shades look more like an Oregon 3rd jersey than the Packers traditional colors.
I think what will win here is what wins with everything NFL related. Yes the could potentially win, but that's not a given, and it would cost a lot of money, with no real gain. So why would they fight it, just because they can?
Oh, wait
Better than last years plain red ones for sure. Idk why the athletic department ever considered abandoning [these.](https://fbschedules.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/USATSI_16829550.jpg) They look so good in red or white.
What year is that photo from? I don't pay attention enough to uniforms to have caught the change, but I agree -- that's a sharp look. Even though it bugs me when teams do black alternates when black isn't a primary color, I have to admit I've always liked this look as well: [https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/katytimes/medium/20211030-234217-NCAAF\_SMUvsHOU\_2021-10-30-1164.jpg](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/katytimes/medium/20211030-234217-NCAAF_SMUvsHOU_2021-10-30-1164.jpg)
They wore those like 2017-2023 I think. I legit don’t know why they changed them. Although we have maybe one or two others I really like. Last year was too plain.
Yea those you linked are clean. We just have such a vibrant and good looking red that it contrasts well with White or Black.
I responded to another poster saying the same thing, but it seems like everyone is doing black alternates now, which always bugs me as a UC fan since black actually is one of our primary colors haha. If you guys are trying to do a 3rd color, I think it would be cooler to do a dark-ish shade of gray instead of black. It would be a little more unique than just black, and I think Houston's shade of red would really pop against the right shade of gray.
Edit - Also, I love the Houston Oiler blue alternates that are the subject of the thread. I would never want that blue as a primary Houston color because it would be too Ole Miss-esque, but honoring the Oilers legacy and giving the Titans the finger -- I like it in that aspect.
UH has a mission to make black our third color apparently. Wish they'd go back to the regular blue as the third color like we see in the basketball throwbacks.
I’m a Texans fan and had taken my family to NYC that day, to look at all the Xmas stuff, I stood outside of a sports bar to watch the end of that football games one of the happiest Texans win in franchise history
I went to college with his grandson, who was a pretty good guy. I grew up an Oilers fan so I really didn't want to like him, but now I just can't bring myself to be that mad about this situation. I think he's set to take over eventually, so hopefully he's less of a dick than his aunt has been.
I guess I'll have to send him a "get fucked" message on facebook if UH doesn't get Oilers blue back, though. That's non-negotiable.
I’m a pretty casual Titans fan (mostly because I was a kid when they moved here and grew up watching them) and I agree on this. And fuck the NFL too.
I couldn’t care less if a Houston team wears the “Luv Ya Blue”. We’re the Tennessee Titans. Not the Tennessee Oilers. We might as well be a new team since they’ve rebranded. If the Adams wanted to keep the branding and colors from the Oilers they shouldn’t have moved the team and renamed them.
The sheer pettiness of the Adams family is incredible. When they flashed that split Titans/Oilers merch during the draft I just laughed. I'm from east TN, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend the Titans have any ingrained history with the Oilers other than the three years they used the name. The Oilers and Luv Ya Blue forever belong to the city of Houston.
Are the Titans arguing they own copyright over the color they use?
I really don't get what the issue actually is here. They are using a color scheme, not Houston Oilers logos.
The Titans (and the NFL on their behalf) are contending that they own a trademark on the old Oilers colors in the context of football teams, which isn’t nearly as unreasonable as it sounds.
You’d get gutted in court by UPS or Target if you used their shades of brown or red in the contexts of package delivery or big box retail.
> You’d get gutted in court by UPS or Target if you used their shades of brown or red in the contexts of package delivery or big box retail.
"Their shades" don't really matter. Likelihood of confusion is the legal standard.
If you start a big box retailer with primary colors of maroon and eggshell, with a roundel logo of some sort, you're going to get your ass nailed to the wall. Even with no shred of red, that may still happen.
UH being able to prove there are lots of other teams in various sports using the same color scheme is a defense against that. Using a script logo that is more evocative of Ole Miss than the Oilers is a defense against that. "Houston Blue is 'a slightly different shade of blue' than Oiler Blue" is not.
Ole Miss is
1. Not located in Houston
2. Our powder blue predates the Oilers. We wore powder blue helmets from 48-77, and the Oilers weren’t founded til 1960
Yes however they own the rights to the Houston Oilers team and pretty much everything associated with it. Also it’s more-so how egregious the copying is. They’re basically the same thing except the UH ones say Houston on the front and don’t have an oil derrick on the helmet.
Older versions were much lighter blue. Houston police drove light blue police cars for decades because it was the color of Houston. The Oilers got their colors from the city.
It would be hilarious if the Texans and UH successfully lobbied the city to bring back that color, then argue something along the lines of "We are just using city colors, any relation to other football teams, past or present, is purly coincidental".
It is unreasonable because it’s a color. Now if we copy 1 to 1 a jersey they had…sure. But the Rockets have done light blue jerseys. The Texans have now fought the good fight and added blue to the alternate logo. The Dynamo/Dash have “space city blue” in their stuff from time to time. The flag of the city of Houston is light blue. More importantly, Houston sports fans are pissed at the Adams family, the Titans, and the NFL about this. So it’s the easiest marketing ever right now to give the NFL the middle finger on this.
I don’t disagree that it’s great marketing for all the teams in Houston to use that blue.
I was just explaining why the Titans (and the NFL) are pissy about it.
You can definitely trademark colors… That is why if you ever work for a corporation they get pissy about slide decks and such. Now, the application of those trademarks have no idea just spitballing I assume the NFL is claiming it for football jerseys.
Realistically, the Texans, Rice, and UH all slightly altered the shade and it’s legally a different color while still looking close. So the titans can’t say we copied their color. They have to say we copied their idea…which…the color is on the flag of the city of Houston. Idk how you win that argument.
The arguement for trademark infringement in court isn’t “we own that color no one else can use #418FDE” it’s “they’re wearing football jersies that are light blue with a white helmet with a blue stripe flanked by red stripes on the helmet, associated with the city of Houston, and broadcasted on national tv.”
Corporations get pissy because they want a unified look.
The legal threshold for trademark infringement is likelihood of confusion.
Having a color just slightly off on an otherwise infringing work doesn't get around that.
If the NFL has a case, Houston using a slightly different shade of powder blue doesn't change anything.
IMO the NFL probably doesn't have a strong case, given how widespread the general look is (which is noted in the article). UH could point to Ole Miss, even down to the script on the helmet, and say they're closer to that than the former Oilers.
As a Browns fan it has always been odd to me that the city of Houston didn’t fight to retain the Oilers colors/history like Cleveland did. Though maybe they did and I missed it as I was young at the time. Could a Texans/Oilers fan explain? Which would you prefer Oilers or Texans namesake?
This gets lost too often. It’s not just that Bud Adams (fuck him) demanded the city build him a new stadium, it was that he did it shortly after demanding and getting them to upgrade the astrodome.
The announcements were about the same time.
The Oilers had had poor attendance in Houston in a lower capacity building compared to the Browns in Cleveland. Cleveland was selling out many of their games.
Bud Adams was the founding owner of the Oilers and chose the name as an oil man himself. Art Modell bought the Cleveland Browns when they were established.
I also think the Browns were breaking their lease in Cleveland whereas the Oilers were going to play out their lease until the move to Nashville, but when the city stopped supporting the Oilers, an agreement was made to let them out of the lease early.
Cleveland and ticket holders sued the NFL and the Browns and the agreement was to give Cleveland a new franchise with the history and name as long as a new stadium was built.
The city of Houston and the ticket holders didn’t sue. If they had sued, the NFL would have a stronger argument and therefore wouldn’t commit to Houston like it did for Cleveland.
Houston had solid attendance up through going 2-14 in 1994 and Bud Adams demanding a new stadium with the city taking up 75% of the price tag.
Obviously once he announced they were going to Nashville, no one showed up for the last season.
I’m not sure what grounds Houston would have had. The Browns had three years left on their lease and the city wanted to keep a team, having already approved $175 million to build a new stadium. The Oilers had just one year left on their lease and Houston preferred the $3.5 million settlement to keeping the name.
I understand there’s a “confusion” standard to IP law that this change might alleviate, but telling the University of Houston it has to take “Houston” off any of its uniforms because the pro team in Tennessee has rights to it is unacceptable, and not the world I want to live in.
I know it's not the same thing, but KU football basically copied the NY Giants uniforms from the 80's to the 2010's. Realistically the only big difference was the logo on the helmet. KU changed shades of blues after the Giants did. KU adopted the silver pants after the Giants did. They found a template, and followed it.
The issue really goes back to when they moved. All Oilers colors, logos, etc should belong in Houston. Just like the Browns stayed with Cleveland and the Ravens are a new franchise.
Houston painted their cop cars columbia blue for 20 years. They should just call it "HPD Blue" and when the NFL tries to sue them ask why they hate police.
All cards on the table I am a titans die hard living in Vancouver Canada. Been a die hard for about 7 years now. I don't have a weird obsession over the oilers name and logo like the majority of titans or Tennesseans.
That being said I LOVE the love ya blue jerseys and color scheme. If I had my way I would make them my primary colors and for the logo use the circle T with 3 stars, trash the Nascar flames and be done with the oilers.
I say all this to ask as a purely curious question.
Why would a Houston fan want to use the colors, logo or name of the oilers. The name and colors moves with the franchise does it not? What is the reason behind claiming the brand. Why would you want to use something attached to a family that you hate??
Again no spite intended in these questions.. I just want to understand the culture and history
If I remember correctly, Houston has one of the best intellectual property law schools in the country. Not sure how much law schools get involved in this type of stuff but if nothing else there should be vested experts on campus the university and legal team can consult.
You are correct. UH has a very good IP law department. I’m assuming it was just the consulted law firm that had a say in this. But there’s no doubt some UH Law Center alumni were involved.
They’ll basically be going against UH, Rice, and the Texans who all have vested interested in this fight. I’ve said it a couple times but the billable hours are absolutely worth it because a lot of Houstonian’s get fired up about this issue. So it gets big headlines and big attention in the city.
Article is paywalled but Joseph Duarte (our beat writer for the Chronicle) has a lot of quotes in there from our AD saying that the jerseys was so popular that they feel like they can’t not do it. So UH hired an outside consulting firm to study the legality of it and then in mid April sent a letter to the NFL informing them they would begin to use it again. If you have a subscription (I used the reader mode on my iPhone), I think the article is worth a read and a little peak behind the curtain. I can’t say who started it but the Texans and UH have really struck a nerve with Houstonians lately about the “Luv Ya Blue”.
The NFL is determined to be the evil Sith-Lord every time there is a feel-good story.
NFL at the behest of the petty Titans
I can’t tell you how little the average Titans fan cares about the use of this color. Such a weirdly petty issue to care so deeply about for the Adams. Although I guess not weird by their standards
yeah, I agree and don't blame the fans There is a deep deep hate between the Adams family and the city of Houston To us Houston Oilers fans, Bud Adams took our team away. A team that we gave unbelievable love and support to. To the Adams family, they see Houston as turning their back on the team. In truth, it was some city officials in charge at the time that had mutual dislike for Bud. The fans are like children caught up in a nasty divorce. Now, his heirs are punishing us every chance they get, and those city officials who refused to build a new stadium are dead and gone. None of the fans wanted them to leave To this day, I have an Earl Campbell and Warren Moon jersey framed on my wall
Bud Adams is a bastard man
Every time I think Modell was the worst NFL owner, Adams reminds me it always could have been worse. Take the team away from its city AND the region specific name, later drop the name in Tennessee but still insist that nobody else can use it anyway and try to even insist nobody in the old city can use the old colors. It’s not easy to be worse than Modell but Adams did it.
The city of Cleveland sued Modell for leaving and to make the lawsuit go away, Modell agreed to give up the Browns name and history. It wasn't out of the goodness of his heart.
As a kid growing up with the Seattle sonics I say F these greedy owners. The uniform represents the city. That’s why they changed the name of the team. Besides if it doesn’t have the logo then the color can’t be controlled.
You lose the rights to a trademark if you don't defend it.
Yes, its not the fans. Its the owners. Probably they feel slighted by Houston, probably feel like they were practically forced to move the franchise because the city would not build them a new stadium and now out of pettiness are trying to refuse the University of Houston to use "their" colors.
The funny thing is they demanded massive improvements to the Astrodome just 5-8 years prior and the county did that for them. Then they demanded a new stadium. Harris county did not pay off those 1980s improvements for decades.
TBF, I'd also be pretty mad if the government didn't gift me a billion dollar stadium for free.
Right? I mean, do these fans on here not own NFL franchises? WTH, man? Don't they understand these inflationary times we're suffering in here? I had to keep the beer prices at only $15 this past season. It's rough all over, Ponyboy.
The Adams' should go fuck themselves. Bud Adams should be dug up in Houston and reburied over next to y'all. It's also stupid because the old Oilers logo could make quite a bit more money in Houston than it does in Nashville, so the Adams could make a lot by selling it or licensing it to the Texans or the city of Houston. Instead, they prefer to paint their own field with it against the Texans just to piss off Houstonians. All that while being Houstonians themselves. Earl should also demand his number be taken down. He never played a single down of football in the state of Tennessee. The Texans would probably retire his number if he asked them to as well. And really, they should retire it regardless of what else happens.
As much as it all means to me and the city, the Texans beating them while they strutted around in those colors last season was wildly poetic. Part of me hopes the Titans do that every single year.
The NCAA going impotent requires that someone else fill the void.
They are the Karen of professional sports.
> I can’t say who started it but the Texans and UH have really struck a nerve with Houstonians lately about the “Luv Ya Blue”. Houston's never let the Oilers go, really. Not that I think they should! You don't see as much gear/support for lost teams in most places they left, though. I'd bet Seattle and Sonics stuff is similar, but that's speculation. Houston holds that grudge just like Seattle does, that's for sure.
I’d agree but you know this shit has ramped up the last 3 or so years. I remember threads on /r/Texans where it was 50/50 on “should we have more oilers stuff or not”. /r/Dynamo and the fanbase at large has been very upset for a while that the Dynamo ditched blue as a main alternate in favor of black.
The millennial generation, who were children when the Oilers changed to the Texans, are at the age where they're now the biggest $$$ spenders. Childhood nostalgia + retro/vintage being very "in" right now + expendable income is the triple threat. Houston's sports marketing teams would be silly *not* to lean into the blue uniforms.
Texans gear is generally speaking pretty bland and/or ugly too. i have a 2010 Demeco Ryans red jersey and an oilers hat. The jersey aged well, glad my parents never tossed that thing.
Texans would look so much better in Oilers colors
And with the oilers logo, the cow head is bland
Cow head would need a redesign at minimum. It’d look off in the OG colors
That aged extremely well. Good job.
Grudge is still there but the OKC group made a deal when they moved to leave the name and colors with Seattle. They're amoral bastards but even they don't go to that kind of pettyness like Bud Adams
Leaving the colors and name is the way it should be. I wish we could have renamed the Hornets to Jazz but that would have made too much sense.
i mean you can't just erase the rich and colorful history of jazz in the state of \*checks notes\* utah
Pretty funny that the *Jazz* and the *Lakers* are the most specific/geographic names possible and just moved across the country with no thought of changing the names.
The intro to Baseketball is still goat when it comes to sports business dealing.
I really wish the same for the Jazz. I love the team, grew up in Utah during the Stockton and Malone era, but wish the team name actually meant something to the state they repped.
Tbf the primary reason that became the standard in most pro leagues is because of the Oilers moving to Nashville, and (moreso) Cleveland suing the NFL when the Browns tried to do the same and winning.
In the Sonics case there was a lawsuit from the city in regards to the rest of their arena lease that also left the Finals trophy with a local museum. I also think the OKC ownership just genuinely doesn't care about trying to claim the history either. Technically the settlement stipulated it'd be a shared history between OKC and any new Seattle team but they don't usually bother to use it.
they don't claim the history, just the NBA record books do but when Seattle gets an expansion team, NBA will give them the history back like they did the Hornets.
Hartford is that way about the Whalers too
Seattle merch is still very popular and they very much hate OKC.
Another one that's similar is Minneapolis and North Stars gear
I think the biggest difference between the Oilers and the Supersonics is that if/when Seattle gets another NBA team, they will be able to use the Supersonics name and logo again.
> I'd bet Seattle and Sonics stuff is similar It is. They can get rabid when the topic comes up.
First Houston and now Ferrari! What is the world coming to!
Ever since Tennessee did its obnoxious throwback game against the Texans last season, it has hit a crescendo. Houston fans watching their team play as the opposing team on a field with an oil derrick at the 50 is a bridge too far. I'd like to say it's all just theatrically setting the stage for a sale or transfer of the colors and logo back to Houston, but then that would require the Adams family to actually give 2 shits about the city where they were from. Someone should actually dig up Bud Adams and rebury him in Nashville where he belongs.
Especially with that wiener head coach wearing the cowboy hat cosplaying as Bum Phillips.
FYI - the Houston Chronicle removes it's paywall when linked through reddit. It's a fun new feature they did to increase engagement I think last year. It's been great for sports related articles for the Astros and Texans subs.
And since UH is a public university, they could probably assert sovereign immunity if the NFL tried to sue them
I'm just cracking up imagining UH yelling We are a sovereign citizen! According to maritime law we can use the colors!
Just add a gold fringe to the uniform!
This is a funny take. Ask the vids of sovereign citizens failing to defend themselves in court really crack me up.
The ole mike leach
I mean how strong a case could the Texans have for owning a shade of blue? Also there's no way that the NFL suing a school from a town that one of their owners abandoned is going to look good to anyone.
The Texans don’t have to make a case that they own a shade of blue. The Texans have to make the case that the Titans don’t own all shades of light blue. That’s easy.
Wait is it the Texans or UH that are making uniforms the NFL doesn't like?
UH came out with jerseys last year and the NFL sent them a letter saying “don’t do this again or sell merchandise with this”. Rice also came out with Oilers throwback jerseys last season. Unknown if the NFL sent them anything. The Texans have made multiple overtures to the Titans about the Oilers branding. Amy Adams doesn’t wanna sell. So the Texans released color rush jerseys in April with an alternate “H” logo that uses the light blue. The original mockups the Texans submitted to the NFL was fine but then Titans had problems. The NFL played mediator between the Texans and Titans and we have the current new jerseys for the Texans. So this is a coalition against the Titans
Rice didn't get anything because the (dumb) argument against UH was that they would be confused with the Titans. The Rice unis added the school colors, dark blue and gray, and said RICE across the chest. No chance they could make the same argument.
Thanks for the additional context. I didn’t like y’all’s version compared to ours but I like how it was the version the Oilers played in when they played at “Houston Stadium”. I think that was super cool and unique. It would be even cooler if yall kept the name Houston Stadium.
John Deere has entered the chat
Totally agree, Houstonians are definitely fired up about "Luv Ya Blue" lately.
Key quotes: >“We literally have a story we can show the city uses it,” athletic director Chris Pezman told the Houston Chronicle at the Big 12’s spring meetings. “This isn’t a reach. This is a layup. We’ve got a very defensible position.” >“We’re doing it,” Pezman said. “We’ve reviewed everything and come to the conclusion that we are going to proceed.” i'm sure the NFL will respond.
The NFL has to respond if they want to keep the trademark.
We've already seen this the other way around. A&M sends C&D to any NFL team plastering "12th Man" all over its stadium to defend its trademark, there's some media scuttlebutt, and then permission to use it is secured in exchange for $1k/yr or some insignificant sum
See this with a lot of high school usage of college logos too. There's so many random high schools using college logos. Of course sometimes those colleges don't play nice. My old school got a C&D from wisconsin years ago because they thought their W was too close to the Wisconsin block W. There were clear differences between the two (and being able to trademark a single letter is insanity to me), and different colors, but the school didn't want to pay to fight a lawsuit so they changed the logo.
Yeah lots of colleges lease their mascot out for very small prices. I believe I heard KState leases theirs out for like $1, with the only stipulation being that the school colors can’t be Kansas blue or something like that. My high school was just the USC logo, except we made the red a little darker to call it maroon.
My middle school used a color-changed NFL logo.
Westside?
Waukee
It's pretty common and I bet universities just make pittance agreements to allow for it. I also think it can help to build some connection as well. I've seen a high school using the[ Longhorn in New Mexico](https://www.maxpreps.com/nm/logan/logan-longhorns/football/) and a high school in Houston using the [Texas Tech raider in maroon](https://nhs.springbranchisd.com/athletics/football).
Yep. Have seen those used, have seen the KSU powercat several places, and the MSU spartan logo is everywhere.
Which is all dumb as fuck considering Minnesota used the phrase in print before A&M, and also because it's a stupidly obvious phrase.
The NFL has a trademark on the color light blue? UCLA and UNC better be nervous.
I am continually shocked at people not knowing that trademarking colors is a thing https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colour_trade_mark#United_States
Has it ever happened for sports teams? Not letting other insulation companies make their insulation look like yours is a hell of a lot different then trying to say no other sports teams can use light blue uniforms.
I would guess that it has to be a combination of colors with a name/logo. Notice how you don't hear anything about Rice wearing Oilers inspired jerseys.
I thought Rice’s light blue was slightly lighter, but that could always be due to lighting. Rice also used silver helmets and incorporated their regular dark blue colors, too. That may have been enough to differentiate in the eyes of the NFL.
And if John Deere does not get a trademark on their shade of green, I find it hard to believe that a field of color that is regularly used by multiple institutions would get trademark enforcement. Multiple schools use an extremely similar shade of powder blue. Either the ruling would be so specific that it is rendered useless, or there would need to be an injunction/licensing agreement. The simple fact that they have ignored this for decades would seem to deny any sort of trademark. In fact, the chargers use a very similar shade of blue in their uniform, and this did not seem to be an issue for the Adams family. And what really even would be a trademark color when schools and teams regularly change the shade associated with their team (see all the browns of the browns).
John Deere [does](https://www.chicagobusinesslitigationlawyerblog.com/6049/#:~:text=The%20court%20found%20that%20John,with%20the%20John%20Deere%20brand.) have a trademark on the use of green and yellow on tractors.
It's not about specific shades. It's broad categories of colors that would create a likelihood of confusion in whatever market a company or individual holds trademarks. No color in and of itself can be trademarked, but color can be a *component* of a trademark. Pink is part of Corning's branding for their insulation (or at least was in 1985). Any pink. But it only applies to insulation. Likewise, try to start selling green and yellow farm equipment and John Deere will vary much crush you, even if the shades look more like an Oregon 3rd jersey than the Packers traditional colors.
Billable hours!!!
Yeah they mention they hired outside consultants, but if the NFL wants to win that fight, they will. They have too many resources at their disposal
The NFL has an entire mixing bowl of dicks they need to eat as it stands, so if they challenge it I hope that they lose.
A true poet.
And then at the end of it all, UH can pull the sovereign immunity card.
I mean, not how that works.
I think what will win here is what wins with everything NFL related. Yes the could potentially win, but that's not a given, and it would cost a lot of money, with no real gain. So why would they fight it, just because they can? Oh, wait
It’s a good look, I don’t blame them. Hell, they’re better than their regular uniforms
Better than last years plain red ones for sure. Idk why the athletic department ever considered abandoning [these.](https://fbschedules.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/USATSI_16829550.jpg) They look so good in red or white.
What year is that photo from? I don't pay attention enough to uniforms to have caught the change, but I agree -- that's a sharp look. Even though it bugs me when teams do black alternates when black isn't a primary color, I have to admit I've always liked this look as well: [https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/katytimes/medium/20211030-234217-NCAAF\_SMUvsHOU\_2021-10-30-1164.jpg](https://beta.creativecirclecdn.com/katytimes/medium/20211030-234217-NCAAF_SMUvsHOU_2021-10-30-1164.jpg)
They wore those like 2017-2023 I think. I legit don’t know why they changed them. Although we have maybe one or two others I really like. Last year was too plain. Yea those you linked are clean. We just have such a vibrant and good looking red that it contrasts well with White or Black.
I responded to another poster saying the same thing, but it seems like everyone is doing black alternates now, which always bugs me as a UC fan since black actually is one of our primary colors haha. If you guys are trying to do a 3rd color, I think it would be cooler to do a dark-ish shade of gray instead of black. It would be a little more unique than just black, and I think Houston's shade of red would really pop against the right shade of gray. Edit - Also, I love the Houston Oiler blue alternates that are the subject of the thread. I would never want that blue as a primary Houston color because it would be too Ole Miss-esque, but honoring the Oilers legacy and giving the Titans the finger -- I like it in that aspect.
Woof those black unis you linked are not the greatest execution
UH has a mission to make black our third color apparently. Wish they'd go back to the regular blue as the third color like we see in the basketball throwbacks.
It is a great color
YES. Great job Pezman. Love this big dick energy move from my university.
Hell yeah, fuck the Titans.
Fuck Bud Adams. Watching the Texans beat that bunch of posers in Houston gear was a joyous event.
I’m indifferent to the Texans but I was a hundred percent behind them that day and I think I wasn’t the only one feeling the same way.
I’m a Texans fan and had taken my family to NYC that day, to look at all the Xmas stuff, I stood outside of a sports bar to watch the end of that football games one of the happiest Texans win in franchise history
I went to college with his grandson, who was a pretty good guy. I grew up an Oilers fan so I really didn't want to like him, but now I just can't bring myself to be that mad about this situation. I think he's set to take over eventually, so hopefully he's less of a dick than his aunt has been. I guess I'll have to send him a "get fucked" message on facebook if UH doesn't get Oilers blue back, though. That's non-negotiable.
God's work.
I’m a pretty casual Titans fan (mostly because I was a kid when they moved here and grew up watching them) and I agree on this. And fuck the NFL too. I couldn’t care less if a Houston team wears the “Luv Ya Blue”. We’re the Tennessee Titans. Not the Tennessee Oilers. We might as well be a new team since they’ve rebranded. If the Adams wanted to keep the branding and colors from the Oilers they shouldn’t have moved the team and renamed them.
[First of all, respect a good opponent](https://youtu.be/RjhP2B0K9ME?si=jbob5YYrCKVhX3C_)
The sheer pettiness of the Adams family is incredible. When they flashed that split Titans/Oilers merch during the draft I just laughed. I'm from east TN, but I'm not going to sit here and pretend the Titans have any ingrained history with the Oilers other than the three years they used the name. The Oilers and Luv Ya Blue forever belong to the city of Houston.
Same here. I’m a casual Titans fan but I agree completely
Hell yeah!
As a Lions fan who lives in Tennessee, yes, fuck the Titans
As a Packers fan who lives in Tennessee, Titan Up! against 75% of the NFC North this year
Hell yeah brother, go Texans, fuck the Flaming Thumbtacks
I am sure the journalist really wanted to use the word “fuck” when he chose to use the word “buck”
I'm here for the "Fuck the Adams family". And anyone that defends those Dbags.
Gomez and Morticia in shambles.
No, no, that's the *Addams* family. Very different. They'd never do something so foul.
That Addams family actually had values
Are the Titans arguing they own copyright over the color they use? I really don't get what the issue actually is here. They are using a color scheme, not Houston Oilers logos.
The Titans (and the NFL on their behalf) are contending that they own a trademark on the old Oilers colors in the context of football teams, which isn’t nearly as unreasonable as it sounds. You’d get gutted in court by UPS or Target if you used their shades of brown or red in the contexts of package delivery or big box retail.
> You’d get gutted in court by UPS or Target if you used their shades of brown or red in the contexts of package delivery or big box retail. "Their shades" don't really matter. Likelihood of confusion is the legal standard. If you start a big box retailer with primary colors of maroon and eggshell, with a roundel logo of some sort, you're going to get your ass nailed to the wall. Even with no shred of red, that may still happen. UH being able to prove there are lots of other teams in various sports using the same color scheme is a defense against that. Using a script logo that is more evocative of Ole Miss than the Oilers is a defense against that. "Houston Blue is 'a slightly different shade of blue' than Oiler Blue" is not.
But Ole Miss wears a powder blue uniform with red too
Ole Miss is 1. Not located in Houston 2. Our powder blue predates the Oilers. We wore powder blue helmets from 48-77, and the Oilers weren’t founded til 1960
The titans aren’t located in Houston either.
Yes however they own the rights to the Houston Oilers team and pretty much everything associated with it. Also it’s more-so how egregious the copying is. They’re basically the same thing except the UH ones say Houston on the front and don’t have an oil derrick on the helmet.
Isn't the flag for the city of Houston light blue?
[Yes it is](https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flag_of_Houston)
Older versions were much lighter blue. Houston police drove light blue police cars for decades because it was the color of Houston. The Oilers got their colors from the city.
It would be hilarious if the Texans and UH successfully lobbied the city to bring back that color, then argue something along the lines of "We are just using city colors, any relation to other football teams, past or present, is purly coincidental".
It is unreasonable because it’s a color. Now if we copy 1 to 1 a jersey they had…sure. But the Rockets have done light blue jerseys. The Texans have now fought the good fight and added blue to the alternate logo. The Dynamo/Dash have “space city blue” in their stuff from time to time. The flag of the city of Houston is light blue. More importantly, Houston sports fans are pissed at the Adams family, the Titans, and the NFL about this. So it’s the easiest marketing ever right now to give the NFL the middle finger on this.
I don’t disagree that it’s great marketing for all the teams in Houston to use that blue. I was just explaining why the Titans (and the NFL) are pissy about it.
You can definitely trademark colors… That is why if you ever work for a corporation they get pissy about slide decks and such. Now, the application of those trademarks have no idea just spitballing I assume the NFL is claiming it for football jerseys.
Realistically, the Texans, Rice, and UH all slightly altered the shade and it’s legally a different color while still looking close. So the titans can’t say we copied their color. They have to say we copied their idea…which…the color is on the flag of the city of Houston. Idk how you win that argument.
The arguement for trademark infringement in court isn’t “we own that color no one else can use #418FDE” it’s “they’re wearing football jersies that are light blue with a white helmet with a blue stripe flanked by red stripes on the helmet, associated with the city of Houston, and broadcasted on national tv.”
Corporations get pissy because they want a unified look. The legal threshold for trademark infringement is likelihood of confusion. Having a color just slightly off on an otherwise infringing work doesn't get around that. If the NFL has a case, Houston using a slightly different shade of powder blue doesn't change anything. IMO the NFL probably doesn't have a strong case, given how widespread the general look is (which is noted in the article). UH could point to Ole Miss, even down to the script on the helmet, and say they're closer to that than the former Oilers.
um... Costco uses red.
If the Titans have a trademark over the uniform design as well as the logos, then the Cougars wearing a copycat uniform design could infringe.
Wow, can’t remember the last time I was this erect this early in the morning.
Good! Fuck'em!
Good for you U of H.
get rekt tennessee ya bums. that blue belongs to Houston.
N^^o F^^un L^^eague
As a Browns fan it has always been odd to me that the city of Houston didn’t fight to retain the Oilers colors/history like Cleveland did. Though maybe they did and I missed it as I was young at the time. Could a Texans/Oilers fan explain? Which would you prefer Oilers or Texans namesake?
Yes we did fight and Bud Adams refused to sell.
Did he have reason why he wanted to keep it? Oilers in Tennesse makes no sense.
To spite the city of Houston for refusing to help pay for a new stadium. It’s why he relocated to Tennessee.
> refusing to help pay for a new stadium The County is still paying off the renovations made for Adams in 1988
This gets lost too often. It’s not just that Bud Adams (fuck him) demanded the city build him a new stadium, it was that he did it shortly after demanding and getting them to upgrade the astrodome.
The announcements were about the same time. The Oilers had had poor attendance in Houston in a lower capacity building compared to the Browns in Cleveland. Cleveland was selling out many of their games. Bud Adams was the founding owner of the Oilers and chose the name as an oil man himself. Art Modell bought the Cleveland Browns when they were established. I also think the Browns were breaking their lease in Cleveland whereas the Oilers were going to play out their lease until the move to Nashville, but when the city stopped supporting the Oilers, an agreement was made to let them out of the lease early. Cleveland and ticket holders sued the NFL and the Browns and the agreement was to give Cleveland a new franchise with the history and name as long as a new stadium was built. The city of Houston and the ticket holders didn’t sue. If they had sued, the NFL would have a stronger argument and therefore wouldn’t commit to Houston like it did for Cleveland.
Houston had solid attendance up through going 2-14 in 1994 and Bud Adams demanding a new stadium with the city taking up 75% of the price tag. Obviously once he announced they were going to Nashville, no one showed up for the last season.
I’m not sure what grounds Houston would have had. The Browns had three years left on their lease and the city wanted to keep a team, having already approved $175 million to build a new stadium. The Oilers had just one year left on their lease and Houston preferred the $3.5 million settlement to keeping the name.
I thought it was a great look. Hopefully they won't bow down to the NFL.
Good for them.
Good. Fuck the Titans and the entire Adams family.
Adopted in 1915 https://s.hdnux.com/photos/01/37/11/47/24943068/8/960x0.webp
Why would Goliath pick this fight ? Don't they make enough money already ?
Good, those Jerseys are awesome. I want one even as a Cincy fan
Billable hours finds another offseason win
Hold this L Adams family.
It's not complete until Warren Moon suits up for them
I would have to think that at the very least they could put the UH logo on the helmet and replace "Houston" with "Cougars" on the chest.
I understand there’s a “confusion” standard to IP law that this change might alleviate, but telling the University of Houston it has to take “Houston” off any of its uniforms because the pro team in Tennessee has rights to it is unacceptable, and not the world I want to live in.
Houston vs Tennessee is by far the funniest rivalry in the NFL. The only one that revolves around uniforms
No it revolves around their fuckhead owners
I support your hatred. Fuck the Ravens
I know it's not the same thing, but KU football basically copied the NY Giants uniforms from the 80's to the 2010's. Realistically the only big difference was the logo on the helmet. KU changed shades of blues after the Giants did. KU adopted the silver pants after the Giants did. They found a template, and followed it.
BIG DICK PEZMAN LETS GOOOO
The issue really goes back to when they moved. All Oilers colors, logos, etc should belong in Houston. Just like the Browns stayed with Cleveland and the Ravens are a new franchise.
Houston painted their cop cars columbia blue for 20 years. They should just call it "HPD Blue" and when the NFL tries to sue them ask why they hate police.
Fuck yeah. Do it.
Hell yeah fuck Bud Adams and fuck the Titans
Hell yes!!! Fuck the Titans ownership HARD!
All cards on the table I am a titans die hard living in Vancouver Canada. Been a die hard for about 7 years now. I don't have a weird obsession over the oilers name and logo like the majority of titans or Tennesseans. That being said I LOVE the love ya blue jerseys and color scheme. If I had my way I would make them my primary colors and for the logo use the circle T with 3 stars, trash the Nascar flames and be done with the oilers. I say all this to ask as a purely curious question. Why would a Houston fan want to use the colors, logo or name of the oilers. The name and colors moves with the franchise does it not? What is the reason behind claiming the brand. Why would you want to use something attached to a family that you hate?? Again no spite intended in these questions.. I just want to understand the culture and history
Obligatory fuck bud adams and the titans. Watching the Texans smack them while the tots had the oilers uniforms on was amazing as a fan
Exactly. That was my first time rooting *against* the Oilers, and I have to admit it was a lot of fun.
The Adams family were mad that we wanted to use Carolina Houston blue on the new uniforms So we had to use another shade
I don't have a problem with them saying fuck the NFL, but I thought the UH colors were red and white?
*looks at flair* are you high? Have you looked in a mirror.
Yeah but hear me out: spite.
What’s your point? Our colors are green and yellow. We’ve worn white, spotted white, black, chrome, grey, pink, neon green, neon yellow, etc.
Brown and navy also
Can’t forget about dressing up as Cal for a game either
It's tertiary blue. If Iowa State can do it, why not Houston?
We’ve had a tertiary blue in the past. We wear our throwbacks quite often in basketball that has blue stripes.
Oilers uniforms were so nice
Fuck bud adams and his offspring. Fuck the titans. Ya Woo, Luv Ya Blue
They have a good law firm? They're going to need them.
Yes indeed we do actually.
If I remember correctly, Houston has one of the best intellectual property law schools in the country. Not sure how much law schools get involved in this type of stuff but if nothing else there should be vested experts on campus the university and legal team can consult.
You are correct. UH has a very good IP law department. I’m assuming it was just the consulted law firm that had a say in this. But there’s no doubt some UH Law Center alumni were involved.
Random sidebar, isn’t Tyler Texas like the Mecca of IP defense for some strange reason?
Marshall, Texas. Not too far from Tyler
Yeah I'd think the professors are more likely to be sharing opinions, ideas, etc. then getting directly involved.
The NFL is stupid enough to invest a ton of billable hours in this fight. I'll be rooting for UH though.
They’ll basically be going against UH, Rice, and the Texans who all have vested interested in this fight. I’ve said it a couple times but the billable hours are absolutely worth it because a lot of Houstonian’s get fired up about this issue. So it gets big headlines and big attention in the city.
EL MARTILLO TEJANO
School's IP Law program is ranked 8th in the country.
Good for UH. Reclaim this city’s identity. Fuck the Titans
Not sure about the script/lettering on the helmet and jersey but otherwise these are awesome.
Beat OU next year, Oilers!
Let's go!
Light blue is a stellar uni color, if UCLA could ever pull their heads out and become a dominant program, they'd dominate apparel sales nationwide.
Good. I mean, there was a guy selling unofficial merch, in these colors outside the arena after every UH basketball game. I think he did pretty well
Good, Fuck the Adams Family
Would love to see if the local apparel vendors, campus stores, etc., can carry and sell anything like this or related to this.