to micromanage the Oilers brought considerable scrutiny since he had no background in the sport. For instance, all expenditures over $200 required his personal approval. In the late 1970s the Oilers rose again to football prominence. Their head coach, O. A. "Bum" Phillips, who dressed, spoke, and acted much like the popular image of a rancher, was well-known and popular. After the Oilers lost to eventual Super Bowl champions in three consecutive years, two consecutive AFC championship game losses to the Pittsburgh Steelers, followed by a Wild Card loss to the Oakland Raiders, Adams fired Phillips. The team fell off and would not be a serious contender again until the late-1980s. Most of the Houston sporting public blamed Adams. This era of rotation between mediocrity and disaster was to last several years. In 1987, Adams threatened to move the Oilers to Jacksonville, Florida (now the home to the Jaguars) unless significant improvements were made to the Astrodome. Harris County, which owns the Astrodome, responded with a $67 million renovation that added 10,000 more seats, a new Astroturf carpet and 65 luxury boxes. Adams promised that with the new improvements, he would keep the team in Houston for 10 years. These improvements were funded by increases in property taxes and the doubling of the hotel tax, as well as bonds to be paid over 30 years. (As of 2011, Harris County and its taxpayers are still paying off the debt from the Astrodome renovations.) That same year, the Oilers seemed to right themselves on the field. They made the AFC playoffs every year from then until 1993, but each time they fell short of making it to the Super Bowl. After Adams made good on a threat to hold a fire sale if the Oilers did not make the Super Bowl after the 1993 season, the Oilers finished with the worst record in franchise history a year later. They would be barely competitive for the rest of their stay in Houston. By the mid-1990s, several NFL teams had new stadiums built largely or entirely with public funding, and several more deals had been agreed to. These new venues featured amenities such as "club seating" and other potential revenue streams that were not part of the NFL's default revenue-sharing arrangements. Due to this, Adams began to lobby Mayor Bob Lanier for a new stadium. However, Lanier turned down the request almost out