If The Texans Moved To Another City, Would You Still Support Them?

As I was sitting here desperately trying to drum up a poor excuse for new content pondering the state of the NFL today, I happened to look upon a spreadsheet recall the recent announcement that the Rams would be moving from St. Louis to Los Angeles, where they would potentially be joined by the Chargers or Raiders. As a proud resident of a metropolis that once saw the Oilers relocate to Nashville, I wondered what would happen if the Texans did the same today. How would Texans fans react?

Back when Bud Adams pulled up stakes and took off for Tennessee, many Oilers fans stopped following the team. Some stopped following the NFL altogether, whereas others considered themselves NFL fans without a team until the Texans were born and Houston regained a place at the NFL table. Others remained fans of the Oilers franchise and transitioned into (shudder) Titans fandom.

The Oilers were in Houston decades longer than the Texans have been thus far, and the Oilers were considerably more successful than the Texans have been to date.  Moreover, especially by the time he left, Bud Adams was reviled by the vast majority of the fan base, while Bob McNair, though open to criticism in some areas, is generally beloved by Houstonians.  Nevertheless, I wonder whether there would be any difference in how Texans fans reacted now as opposed to how Oilers fans did in 1996.

Imagine, as terrifying as it may be, that there the Texans announced they were leaving Houston.  What would you do?  Would you still be a fan of the team?  Would you abandon them and find a new team to support?  Maybe you'd still be a football fan but wouldn't support any particular NFL franchise.  Or perhaps you'd be done with the NFL altogether.

One other thing to consider, for those who were around when the Oilers left Houston nearly twenty years ago:  Would your reaction now be different than it was then?  In other words, would you handle your beloved team uprooting from Houston any differently than you did back in '96?

Fire off your thoughts in the Comments below and see how other Texans fans feel about this hypothetically horrendous scenario.