Memphis is famous for a lot of things.
The ‘Home of the Blues’ and the ‘Birthplace of Rock ‘n’ Roll’ also boasts world-class BBQ and played a huge role in the Civil Rights Movement – in another timeline it could also have hosted an NFL team called the Hound Dogs as an homage to its most iconic son.
For a relatively small city, Memphis has punched above its weight in music and boasts a passionate population who would have loved to do the same in football.
“We’re not a city that has all the advantages of a coastal city, we’re not a city that has a dozen Fortune 500 companies,” Frank Murtaugh, managing editor of Memphis magazine, told Yahoo in 2018.
“But we have desire, we have heart, we have devotion, the core components to being a long-term sports fan. We just needed a winner.”
The original Memphis Grizzlies
Long before the basketball team, the Grizzlies were a Memphis institution in the World Football League, which folded in the 1970s.
The team signed up 40,000 fans for season tickets to try and persuade the NFL to bring them on board — it failed and begun a love-hate relationship that ended in a disastrous short-lived partnership.
Quarterback Danny White ended up winning the Super Bowl with the Dallas Cowboys, while fullback Larry Csonka — who had two rings before defecting to the WFL — returned to the NFL and made the Hall of Fame.
Memphis Showboats sink
A decade later, Memphis had another flirtation with pro football.
The Showboats were one of the main draws of the United States Football League, selling out the 50,079-seater Liberty Bowl by the end of their debut season.
Once again, the league folded, this time after one of its owners — a young Donald Trump — sued the NFL.
Third time lucky?
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GettyFacilities were not deemed to be NFL standard[/caption]Unfortunately not.
In 1987, a $19.5 million Liberty Bowl renovation hoped to finally persuade the NFL to feature Memphis in a 62,000-seat bowl with 44 luxury suites.
Phoenix was handed an existing franchise.
Why did the Memphis Hound Dogs fail?
It was time to bring out the big guns. Fred Smith — the founder of $58 billion giant FedEx, which is still based in Memphis — partnered with and Elvis Presley Enterprises.
The Hound Dogs were proposed to the league — competing against Charlotte, Jacksonville, Baltimore, and St. Louis.
Charlotte and Jacksonville landed expansion teams, while the Rams headed to St. Louis and the Browns controversially packed their bags for Baltimore.
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By the time the NFL finally headed for Memphis, the city and its people were over it.
Bud Adams played hardball with Houston, demanding $186 million for a new stadium after a 2-14 season.
He was told to get on his bike and Nashville Mayor Phil Bredesen welcomed the Oilers with open arms.
Nashville’s stadium would be ready in 1998, leaving a two-year gap to fill — enter the Liberty Bowl.
The only problem, Nashville and Memphis don’t get along.
“They seem to think that all they have to do is hang out a sign at the stadium and watch Memphians and Nashvillians line up to buy tickets to see the Oilers play,” Dennis Freeland wrote in the Memphis Flyer.
“The Oilers have done almost nothing to ingratiate themselves to the fans of either the city where they live, practice, and hope someday to play, or the city where they are playing while Nashville completes a new $292 million stadium.”
“Houston was done with us, and Memphis wasn’t thrilled,” Oilers general manager Floyd Reese admitted. “It all happened so fast. We didn’t have enough time to get things how we wanted.”
GettyMemphis became a basketball town[/caption] GettyMemphis has punched above its weight[/caption]A team parade down Beale Street quickly turned into a farce.
“We were coming down on the red carpet to this open-air park,” Pro Bowl running back Eddie George said. “The sides were all roped off. But there was no one there! Maybe 150 people showed up!”
Head coach Jeff Fisher managed to win six games at a stadium that was often dominated by fans of the road teams, finishing the season 8-8.
There was plenty of talent on the team, forged an unbreakable bond in choppy waters and went to the Super Bowl as the rebranded Titans in 2000 — losing to the Rams.
NBA heads to Memphis
The NFL has not been back to Memphis since 1997, but the city did lure the NBA’s Vancouver Grizzlies in 2001.
“I have no doubt the NFL would have succeeded here, at least as you measure with attendance and bottom line,” Murtaugh told Yahoo. “We want to call ourselves a basketball town, but this is a football region.
“Had there been no Tennessee Titans, had a franchise been located in Memphis, there’d be people flocking from Nashville westward.”
GettySmith’s dad was worth $5.8 billion having created one of the biggest companies in the world[/caption]In 2024, ownership of the Simmons Liberty Bank Stadium was transferred to the University of Memphis.
The City contributed $120 million to a renovation, with another $100 million split between FedEx chairman Smith — the son of Pittsburgh Steelers offensive coordinator Arthur — and the college.
It means one of college football‘s most underrated arenas, which first opened in 1963, can continue its long history with the Tigers as featured tenants.
The revived Showboats have played there since 2023, but the NFL seems to have long closed its doors to Memphis.
As the song goes, you ain’t no friend of mine.
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