The Tennessee Titans are the professional American football team based in Nashville, Tennessee. They are members of the South Division of the American Football Conference (AFC) in the National Football League (NFL). Previously known as the Houston Oilers, the then Houston, Texas, team began play in 1960 as a charter member of the AFL American Football League. The Houston Oilers won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger. In 1999, the Tennessee Titans played their most memorable season since joining the NFL, when they made it all the way to Super Bowl XXXIV, but they fell, at the 1 yard line, to the Kurt Warner-led St. Louis Rams. Franchise history Houston Oilers (1960–1996) The Titans were originally formed as the Houston Oilers, one of the eight charter members of the American Football League (AFL). They became a part of the National Football League in 1970 as part of the AFL–NFL merger and have remained a member of the NFL ever since. They played in Houston through the end of the 1996 season. They were part of the AFL's Eastern Division for their first ten years and became part of the American Football Conference upon their joining the NFL. They were placed in the AFC's Central Division, which they were part of until 2002. Tennessee Oilers era (1997–1998) After the 1995 season, Bud Adams announced the move to Tennessee, causing fan support in Houston to collapse for the 1996 season. They intended to play at a new stadium in Nashville, but it would not be ready until 1999. The largest stadium in Nashville at the time, Vanderbilt Stadium on the campus of Vanderbilt University, seated only 41,000 — a capacity deemed too small for even temporary use. Vanderbilt was also unwilling to permit alcohol sales. However, Adams ruled out using the state's largest stadium, the University of Tennessee's Neyland Stadium, in Knoxville; at 102,000 seats, it would have been all but impossible to sell out in time to avoid local blackouts on television. Ultimately, Adams announced that the renamed Tennessee Oilers would play the next two seasons at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee. The team would be based in Nashville, commuting to Memphis only for games—essentially sentencing the Oilers to 32 road games for the next two years. Even though this arrangement was acceptable to the NFL and the Oilers at the time,