Jerry Jones recalls the push that brought the NFL back to Houston

The Cowboys owner says he lobbied fellow owners for Bob McNair's Houston bid even as the league favored Los Angeles, a push that produced the Texans in October 1999.

Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones says he was one of Bob McNair's fiercest backers when Houston chased an NFL expansion team, lobbying colleagues at a moment when most of the league preferred Los Angeles. Speaking with the Houston Chronicle by phone this week, Jones looked back on the campaign that created the Texans, who were awarded the NFL's 32nd franchise on Oct. 7, 1999 — 27 years ago next Wednesday — and are playing their 25th season in 2026.

Jones said he had long admired McNair, a businessman whose interest in purchasing a club had made him familiar across the league by the mid-1990s. “He was exactly the type of individual that I wanted the room full of in the NFL as owners,” Jones said, citing McNair's story and reputation.

The NFL, which had added two teams in 1995 and reinstated the Cleveland Browns in 1996, hoped to settle on its 32th city by spring 1999. Houston and Los Angeles were the two serious contenders. Los Angeles had been without a club since the Raiders and Rams left after the 1994 season, and Houston had lost the Oilers when owner Bud Adams moved them to Nashville after the 1996 season.

Los Angeles was the front-runner. Joe Browne, a former longtime league executive who served as the NFL's vice president at the time, called it a bigger market that had been “sitting there fallow” and said the city was the favorite in any matchup with Houston.

In March 1999, owners voted 29-2 to award the 32nd franchise to Los Angeles, on the condition that the city secured a stadium, funding and community support by a Sept. 15, 1999 deadline. The decision was another blow for Houston, but McNair believed his city still had a chance.

Cal McNair, Bob's youngest son and the Texans' current principal owner, said his father felt Houston lost part of its identity when the Oilers departed, had seen a similar wound linger in Baltimore, and wanted to restore what was gone. The elder McNair sought backing from other owners, and he and Jones bonded over parallel business success: McNair built Cogen Technologies and later sold it for $1.5 billion, while Jones found his wealth in oil and gas. “He was smooth as grease,” Jones said of McNair, describing him as a consummate salesman.

Even after the Los Angeles vote, Jones kept pressing the case, calling fellow owners and arguing publicly that a city with deep football roots and strong high school play deserved a team, and that a second Texas franchise would serve the Cowboys' own interests. “The more, the better,” Jones said, adding that he wished Dallas and Houston played every year. Cal McNair said having someone as persuasive as Jones speak for his father, whom many owners did not know, was powerful.

Los Angeles never met the league's conditions, and momentum swung toward Houston. At an October 1999 meeting, McNair negotiated with the league through the night before agreeing to pay $700 million for the expansion franchise, a figure that would have been a record price. The NFL said yes, and Houston had its team.

Jones said he can still recall the moment the decision was announced. McNair pointed at him and delivered a line the Cowboys owner has not forgotten: “Jerry, you're not the only game in town anymore. You may be America's, but you're not going to be Texas' team.”