[Congressional Record Volume 144, Number 35 (Wednesday, March 25, 1998)]
[House]
[Page H1453]
From the Congressional Record Online through the Government Publishing Office [www.gpo.gov]




                 PROFESSIONAL FOOTBALL TEAM IN HOUSTON

  (Mr. GREEN asked and was given permission to address the House for 1 
minute and to revise and extend his remarks.)
  Mr. GREEN. Mr. Speaker, the owners of the National Football League 
voted Monday to provide Cleveland with an expansion franchise, the 31st 
NFL team. The Cleveland team will be known as the Browns and will begin 
playing in 1999.
  Congratulations to Cleveland and the gentleman from Ohio (Mr. 
Stokes); they are finally going to get a football team. Last year the 
gentleman from Ohio introduced H.R. 2699 after losing their 
professional football team. He wanted to protect cities from losing 
their professional sports teams. I cosponsored this bill.
  Sports are a way in which people identify with their hometown and 
take pride in their hometown. As a Member of Congress from Houston, we 
also lost our team last year. When we think of Houston, we think of 
oil. We think maybe of the Houston Oilers. Do we really think of the 
Tennessee Oilers?
  Houston is the fourth largest city. There should be a professional 
football team in Houston. I hope the NFL owners will even the number to 
number 32 and approve an expansion team to Houston.
  Again, congratulations to Cleveland. Hopefully, with this example of 
an expansion franchise, we might just see another football team in 
Houston again soon.

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