Tennessee’s Nashville-based Football is played professionally by the Tennessee Titans. In the American Football Conference (AFC) South division of the National Football League, the Titans’ home games are played at Nissan Stadium.
When Bud Adams founded the franchise in 1959, it was known as the Houston Oilers (who remained the owner until his passing in 2013). It made its American Football League debut in Houston, Texas, as a founding member, in 1960.
The Oilers joined the NFL in 1970 as part of the AFL-NFL merger after winning the first two AFL championships as well as four division titles.
With Hall of Famers Earl Campbell and Warren Moon, the Oilers made successive trips to the playoffs from 1978 to 1980 and 1987 to 1993, respectively.
The Oilers moved to Nashville, Tennessee in 1997, but they played their first season there in Memphis’ Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium as they waited for a new stadium to be built. The team relocated to Vanderbilt Stadium in Nashville in 1998 as a result of low attendance.
For those two seasons, the team went by the name Tennessee Oilers, but for the 1999 season, they changed their name to Titans and moved to Adelphia Coliseum (now known as Nissan Stadium).Despite not knowing anything about football, Nashville’s mayor, Phil Bredesen, recognized the advantages an NFL team would have for his city and state. He convinced Adams to agree to an exclusive arrangement.