Jon McIntyre

This just lacks so, so much context. The city wanted the Oilers, they didn’t want Bud Adams… after going 12-4 in 93, and having a winning record for 7 straight years he cut cut cut costs, and simultaneously asked the city for 75% of funding for new stadium a half decade after asking the city for $100M worth of renovations. He threatened to leave over them throughout the 1994 season so much he burnt all bridges in town before announcing the departure officially in 1995 He spent the renovation focused on luxury items for upper crust fans, then threw a fit when the city didn’t also fork over money for more significant, impactful, & necessary work. But Bud Adams’s net worth was over a billion in the mid-90s, and the city was coming out of the 80s when an oil bust nearly broke the city financially… and still managed to help him with his first of the two asks in 89. The drying up of fan support, in every way, was a response to his threats, NOT to how people felt about nfl football. Bud Adams greed led to the mess that moved the oilers away from Houston. He wanted his own, brand new Alamodome to house the three major franchises, but wanted the city to foot 75% of it even after he’d shown poor judgement in spending the city’s money before. All of the legalese and trandmark fighting out of Tennessee since then have struck the same “you never gave us all the things we wanted” notes the entire time. He sought to take advantage of a city already on hard times instead of invest in the community that helped him amass wealth and notoriety in the first place. There’s little oil in Tennessee, and the colors were meaningless to Nashville or Memphis. But theyre the ones used as pawns for a family that’s holding the 30 year grudge. So no, it’s not “lack of foresight.” It’s seeing through bullshit.