Texans’ Doug Vosik on inducting J.J. Watt into Ring of Honor, Legends Wall unveiling, music, fans, H-Town Blue and more

HOUSTON – Inside NRG Stadium, a ton of planning has been afoot for months to commemorate retired Pro Bowl defensive end J.J. Watt being inducted into the Ring of Honor on Sunday at halftime against the Pittsburgh Steelers.

The three-time NFL Defensive Player of the Year joins the late founder and owner Bob McNair and wide receiver Andre Johnson as the third member of the AFC South franchise’s Ring of Honor.

Watt’s recognition coincides with the Texans’ annual Legends weekend, with more than 90 former players attending the game and the team unveiling a new Legends Wall of Honor presented by Coca-Cola behind Section 133 to feature the team’s history. Watt will represent the Texans as their coin toss team captain and as the Reppin’ H-Town celebrity on the field before kickoff.

The former Walter Payton Man of the Year will be joined at the game by his family, including his parents, his wife, Kealia Ohai Watt, and his brothers, Steelers outside linebacker T.J. Watt, and Derek Watt. Fans will be given special “Thank You J.J.” or “Thank You 99″ placards and limited-edition hoodies and T-shirts will be available for purchase on Sunday.

Texans senior vice president of marketing and communications Doug Vosik discussed the team’s big weekend of festivities Friday afternoon with KPRC 2.

“Huge game, in all ways,” Vosik said of the Texans as they come off a resounding 37-17 road win over the Jacksonville Jaguars. “All that momentum and excitement and now add everything that J.J. Watt Ring of Honor weekend brings and also, not to be forgotten, it’s Legends weekend, which we have every single year. It’s really come together over the last couple of months. Ever since J.J. announced his retirement, we reached out and he said, I definitely want to be honored as a Texan and it all went from there.

“I am newer to getting to know J.J., but what a great guy who loves this city, loves this fan base and loves what he built together with H-Town. For him, it was, ‘I got to get there, I got to show the fans my love.’ How can we do something really special where it can go both ways where fans can thank him and he can thank the fans.”

Watt will hold a press conference before kickoff.

“Our Reppin’ H-Town guy sets off the Thunder cannon before every game,” Vosik said. “We always had a cannon, but never a big one. Some of the fan feedback from last season and our Fan Council and survey said they really love the cannon, so we decided let’s make the cannon bigger and better and involve the fans. J.J. is going to be our honorary guy to set that off. And, of course, the amazing ceremony at halftime when he gets to join Mr. McNair and our guy, ‘Dre, up in the rafters and put on that red coat.”

Beyond all of the engagement with Watt, Vosik emphasized how interactive the team is being with fans. That includes a newly-established Fan Council earlier this year, regular surveys, a new, trending music strategy and new uniforms being planned for the 2024 season. That will include some H-Town blue being incorporated into the new look.

“Ultimately, what I continue to say, whether it be uniforms or gameday experience, is the fan feedback is driving all of this evolution,” Vosik said. “We do surveys after every game. We learn what fans like and what they don’t like. Every offseason, we do the same thing but way deeper and now we have the Fan Council as well so we get more contextual, real feedback. A big topic for the fans in the offseason was music.

“We tried a lot of new things last year in music and the fans kept challenging us saying, ‘How can we get young? How can we get fresher, but still pay homage to the traditional songs we’ve played in our building over the years. You’re seeing us realtime update our music strategy and what you hear on gameday based on the surveys that come in.”

The Texans’ new DJs this season are Vanilla Trill and DJ MC Beezy.

“They are becoming big, big names in H-Town,” Vosik said. “They take us on our musical journey.”

The Texans are encouraging fans to arrive early so that coach DeMeco Ryans and players can see and feel the support when they are getting ready for the game.

The Texans also made available several T-shirts with slogans and themes adopted under Ryans’ leadership, including SWARM and Iron Sharpens Iron.

“It’s been two sides really driving the changes in retail, one was fan feedback with fans saying we love the bull, we love the raw Texans brand, but give us more variety,” Vosik said. “Give us things that are more fashionable. Even try some things that aren’t traditional Texans colors. That’s why you see some cream and some denim looks. That was from the fans. That’s why you’re seeing more fashion looks.

“And, two, it’s a collaborative effort with football with the whole experience coach (Ryans) has brought in. In training camp, you saw T-shirts that football wore, one being ‘Swarm,’ two being ‘Charge,’ three being ‘Mi Familia,’ and four being ‘Iron Sharpens Iron.’ We wanted to make sure we could have those for fans as well and they sold out every time. These are key messages that DeMeco is trying to bring to the team.”

As far as the new uniforms, which continue to be planned in collaboration with team officials, including chairman and CEO Cal McNair and foundation vice president Hannah McNair, the NFL and industry brand experts, progress is being made and the Texans are excited about being able to unveil them in April prior to the NFL draft.

“I know H-Town seems to be well aware of the future uniform change, and we’re so happy to bring fans into that process,” Vosik said. “We’ve been keeping our eyes open what some of our local universities and colleges have done recently, most recently Rice. Obviously, that’s the color of our city. We own that color as a town and we’re really happy, as Cal has shared in the press, that we have found a way in our 2024 uniforms to pay tribute to that color while still maintaining our own Texans identity.”

The Texans will wear their Battle Red helmets and uniforms on Sunday against the Steelers.

“You know it, fans love Battle Red,” Vosik said. “Last year, we wore Battle Red once (against Philadelphia Eagles in nationally televised Thursday night game). This year, if you look at various combinations, the helmet will be worn three times and we’ll be playing around with different combinations between helmet, jersey and pants to keep it fresh throughout the year.”

Aaron Wilson is a Texans and NFL reporter for KPRC 2 and click2houston.com