The Houston Roughnecks are a professional

American football American football (referred to simply as football in the United States and Canada), also known as gridiron, is a team sport played by two teams of eleven players on a rectangular field with goalposts at each end. The offense, the team wi ...

team based in

Houston, Texas Houston (; ) is the most populous city in Texas, the most populous city in the Southern United States, the fourth-most populous city in the United States, and the sixth-most populous city in North America, with a population of 2,304,580 i ...

. The team is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL founded by

Vince McMahon Vincent Kennedy McMahon (; born August 24, 1945) is an American media proprietor and retired professional wrestling promoter, executive, and performer. From 1982 to 2022, he served as the chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of WWE, the ...

's Alpha Entertainment and plays its home games at

TDECU Stadium John O'Quinn Field at TDECU Stadium is an American football stadium on the campus of the University of Houston. The stadium serves as the home of the Houston Cougars football team, which represents the University of Houston in collegiate ...

History

Houston joined

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest region o ...

Dallas Dallas () is the third largest city in Texas and the largest city in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex, the fourth-largest metropolitan area in the United States at 7.5 million people. It is the largest city in and seat of Dallas County ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

New York New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

St. Louis St. Louis () is the second-largest city in Missouri, United States. It sits near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri Rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a population of 301,578, while the bi-state metropolitan area, which e ...

Tampa Bay Tampa Bay is a large natural harbor and shallow estuary connected to the Gulf of Mexico on the west-central coast of Florida, comprising Hillsborough Bay, McKay Bay, Old Tampa Bay, Middle Tampa Bay, and Lower Tampa Bay. The largest freshwater in ...

and

Washington, D.C. ) , image_skyline = , image_caption = Clockwise from top left: the Washington Monument and Lincoln Memorial on the National Mall, United States Capitol, Logan Circle, Jefferson Memorial, White House, Adams Morgan, ...

as the league's inaugural cities. Houston has previously hosted several other alternative professional football teams, including the Texans of the

World Football League The World Football League (WFL) was an American football league that played one full season in 1974 and most of its second in 1975. Although the league's proclaimed ambition was to bring American football onto a worldwide stage, the farthest t ...

(unrelated to the current NFL team of the same name),

Gamblers Gambling (also known as betting or gaming) is the wagering of something of value ("the stakes") on a random event with the intent of winning something else of value, where instances of strategy are discounted. Gambling thus requires three elem ...

of the

United States Football League The United States Football League (USFL) was a professional American football league that played for three seasons, 1983 through 1985. The league played a spring/summer schedule in each of its active seasons. The 1986 season was scheduled to be ...

, and Thunderbears of the

Arena Football League The Arena Football League (AFL) was a professional arena football league in the United States. It was founded in 1986, but played its first official games in the 1987 season, making it the third longest-running professional football league in ...

. The city has a long association with commissioner

Oliver Luck Oliver Francis Luck (born April 5, 1960) is an American business executive and former football quarterback. He is currently the executive director of the ASUN–WAC Football Conference (tentative name), a new NCAA Division I FCS conference starti ...

, who played for the

Houston Oilers The Houston Oilers were a professional American football team that played in Houston from its founding in 1960 to 1996 before relocating to Memphis, and later Nashville, Tennessee becoming the Tennessee Titans. The Oilers began play in 1960 as ...

in the

National Football League The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ...

and previously served as president of

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

Houston Dynamo Houston Dynamo FC (formerly officially, but still commonly, called the Houston Dynamo) is an American professional soccer club based in Houston. The Dynamo compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference. Establi ...

; Houston was one of the first cities the league visited in September 2018 in regard to a potential XFL team. The team's imagery and name borrows heavily from the Oilers, including sharing an oil-drilling motif, its derrick logo, and red, white and blue colors (with a darker shade of blue), as well as incorporating the H and star from the

Houston Astros The Houston Astros are an American professional baseball team based in Houston, Texas. The Astros compete in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a member club of the American League (AL) West division, having moved to the division in 2013 after ...

' logo and the proportions of the

American Athletic Conference The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA) ...

A-star logo (the

Houston Cougars football The Houston Cougars football program is an NCAA Division I FBS football team that represents the University of Houston. The team is commonly referred to as "Houston" or "UH" (spoken as "U of H"). The UH football program is a member of the Big 1 ...

team, an American member, shares TDECU Stadium with the Roughnecks, and thus this would allow the A logo painted on the turf to be transformed into the Roughnecks derrick). Houston has one major league winter sport against which the XFL economically competes, the

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America. The league is composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada) and is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United St ...

Houston Rockets The Houston Rockets are an American professional basketball team based in Houston. The Rockets compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member team of the league's Western Conference Southwest Division. The team plays its ho ...

. The team will also have to compete against the

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

in March and April. On May 13, 2019,

June Jones June Sheldon Jones III (born February 19, 1953) is an American football coach and former player who is currently the Offensive Coordinator of the Seattle Sea Dragons. Jones was the head football coach at the University of Hawaii at Manoa from 19 ...

left his position with the

Hamilton Tiger-Cats The Hamilton Tiger-Cats are a professional Canadian football team based in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada. They are currently members of the East Division of the Canadian Football League (CFL). The Tiger-Cats play their home games at Tim Hortons Fiel ...

to become Houston's head coach. The XFL confirmed the hire May 20. On February 8, 2020, the Roughnecks defeated the

Los Angeles Wildcats Los Angeles Wildcats is a name shared by several American football teams from Los Angeles: *Los Angeles Wildcats (AFL) The Los Angeles Wildcats (also reported in various media as Pacific Coast Wildcats, Los Angeles Wilson Wildcats and Wilson's ...

in the second game in league history by a score of 37-17. The Roughnecks are in-state rivals with the

Dallas Renegades The Arlington Renegades are a professional American football team based in Arlington, Texas. The team was founded as the Dallas Renegades by Vince McMahon’s Alpha Entertainment and is an owned-and-operated member of the new XFL owned by Dwayne ...

. Games between the two are marketed as the ''Texas Throwdown''. Another in-state rival will be added in 2023 with the addition of an team in

San Antonio ("Cradle of Freedom") , image_map = , mapsize = 220px , map_caption = Interactive map of San Antonio , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = United States , subdivision_type1= U.S. state, State , subdivision_name1 = Texas , s ...

Logo controversy

On January 8, 2021, It was revealed that the NFL filed an opposition against the XFL’s trademark application for the Houston Roughnecks logo on December 28, 2020, claiming that the logo was too similar to the

logo. It was then later revealed that the NFL filed another trademark opposition to the Roughneck's secondary logo on behalf of the

New England Patriots The New England Patriots are a professional American football team based in the Greater Boston area. They compete in the National Football League (NFL) as a member club of the league's American Football Conference (AFC) AFC East, East divisio ...

, claiming that the secondary logo was too similar to the Patriots' current logo. On April 7, 2021, it was revealed that the two logos were abandoned "with prejudice" which means that new applications for the logos could not be made. The Roughnecks revealed their new logo on October 31, 2022, which is similar in shape to the previous derrick logo but with greater emphasis on the H (stylized to appear as if constructed from steel girders) and the star portion lowered so that the logo no longer explicitly resembles a derrick.

Players

Current roster

Staff

Former Notable Players

Sammie Coates Sammie Coates Jr. (born March 31, 1993) is an American football wide receiver for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Auburn, where he played in the 2013 SEC Championship Game and 2014 BCS N ...

Connor Cook Connor Cook (born January 29, 1993) is a former American football quarterback. He played college football for the Michigan State Spartans and was their starting quarterback from 2013 to 2015. He holds the record for most career wins at Michigan ...

Kony Ealy Kony Montoy Ealy (born December 21, 1991) is a gridiron football defensive end for the Edmonton Elks of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He played college football at Missouri and was drafted by the Carolina Panthers in the second round of th ...

DeMarquis Gates DeMarquis Larenz Gates (born March 7, 1996) is an American football linebacker for the Chicago Bears of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football for the Ole Miss Rebels. Early years Gates attended Lovejoy High School in ...

* Cam Phillips *

Jalen Saunders Jalen Saunders (born September 30, 1992) is a gridiron football wide receiver who is a free agent. He was most recently a member of the Winnipeg Blue Bombers of the Canadian Football League (CFL). He was drafted by the New York Jets in the fou ...

P. J. Walker Phillip "P. J." Walker (born February 26, 1995) is an American football quarterback for the Carolina Panthers of the National Football League (NFL). He played college football at Temple, and was signed as an undrafted free agent by the Indian ...

References

External links

* {{Houston XFL (2020) teams American football teams in Houston American football teams established in 2018 2018 establishments in Texas