Houston Texans Team History

In 1997, Houston entrepreneur Bob McNair had a failed bid to bring a National Hockey League expansion team to the city, and Bud Adams relocated the city’s NFL team, the Houston Oilers, to Nashville where they were renamed Tennessee Titans. Given the Cleveland Browns had just suffered a controversial relocation to become the Baltimore Ravens, the league promised to return football to Cleveland within the following three years, and probably add another expansion team to even out the franchises at 32. As Houston was one of the favorites for the extra franchise along with Toronto and Los Angeles which had lost the Rams and the Raiders in 1995, McNair then decided to join the football project and founded Houston NFL Holdings with partner Steve Patterson. In association with Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo, they would push for a domed stadium as part of the bid to lure the NFL back to Houston. The expansion team was originally awarded to Los Angeles on March 16, 1999, but given the city had problems in providing an acceptable ownership team and stadium deal, both of whom had been promised in Houston for two years, in October the NFL instead awarded the 32nd team to Houston, at the cost of $700 million.

NRG Stadium (formerly Reliant Stadium) is a multi-purpose stadium, in Houston, Texas, USA. NRG Stadium has a seating capacity of 71,054, a total area of 1,900,000 square feet (180,000 m2) with a 97,000 sq ft (9,000 m2) playing surface. NRG Stadium employs two different playing surfaces; a natural grass field is used for professional football games while an artificial surface, AstroTurf GameDay Grass, is used for college and high school games. Both surfaces are laid out on interlocking trays.

NRG Stadium is part of a collection of venues (including the Astrodome), which are collectively called NRG Park. The entire complex is named for NRG Energy under a 32-year, $300 million naming rights deal in 2000.

“J.J.” Watt is an American football defensive end for the Houston Texans of the National Football League (NFL). He was drafted by the Texans with the 11th pick in the first round of the 2011 NFL Draft, and played college football at Wisconsin.

Watt received the AP NFL Defensive Player of the Year Award three times in his first five seasons. Although primarily a defensive end, he occasionally shifts to defensive tackle in some situations. He has also taken snaps on offense, catching three touchdown passes during the 2014 season. In 2014, Watt became the first player in NFL history to record two 20+ sack seasons in a career. He also holds the Texans’ franchise records for both sacks and forced fumbles.