The professional American football team now known as the Tennessee Titans previously played in Houston, Texas as the Houston Oilers from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as a charter member of the American Football League (AFL). The team won two AFL championships before joining the NFL as part of the AFL–NFL merger in the late 1960s. The NFL would return to Houston in 2002 with a new franchise, the Houston Texans.