Son of Houston Texans owner sues NFL, alleging league sought to silence him

Robert Cary McNair Jr., the son of Houston Texans owner Janice McNair, filed a civil complaint in Manhattan Supreme Court alleging that the National Football League and related entities conspired to silence him after he questioned the league’s handling of two high-profile player scandals. The suit seeks $60 million in damages, according to papers filed Friday, and centers on what he describes as a deliberate effort to curb his influence over NFL-related matters within the McNair family’s business holdings.

McNair’s filing portrays a restructuring of the McNair family business and trust that removed him from key roles while installing his brother Cal McNair as Owner’s Representative. He contends the changes were negotiated with the aim of neutralizing his oversight and influence, and that he was stripped of his positions in the McNair family enterprises as part of a broader effort by the NFL to silence him after he began asking pointed questions about the league’s decision-making process.

The lawsuit ties allegations of silencing to two high-profile player scandals that drew national attention. The first involved Deshaun Watson, the Texans quarterback whose case file grew to include numerous civil lawsuits alleging sexual misconduct and assault. The second centered on Javier Loya, a minority owner in the Texans organization who was charged in Kentucky with rape in 2023; the charge was later dropped as part of a plea deal. McNair Jr. asserts that the NFL’s handling of these incidents and corresponding investigations created a climate in which he says his input was unwelcome and his standing within the family businesses was deliberately diminished.

According to court papers, the NFL’s restructuring not only reduced Cary McNair’s formal roles but also effectively cut him out of “meaningful role” in matters tied to the league and its intersections with the Texans organization. The filing argues that the motive behind the changes was to limit his ability to scrutinize or challenge NFL-related decisions, thereby suppressing his influence on issues involving the league’s governance and public relations surrounding the scandals in question.

In a separate but related matter, McNair Jr. previously pursued a bid to have his mother, Janice McNair, declared incapacitated in order to alter the family’s control of Houston Texans-related assets. He dropped that case in November after a Houston judge declined to compel his mother to undergo a mental-capacity examination. Tony Buzbee, the attorney representing McNair Jr., said the dropped case did not affect the current lawsuit and characterized his client’s questions about oversight as legitimate. “He asked questions anyone with an obligation of oversight would ask,” Buzbee said. “He was silenced by removal.”

Comment requests to the NFL, McNair Interests, and the Houston Texans were not immediately returned. The NFL has faced scrutiny over how it handles off-field conduct and governance in recent years, but the league has not previously commented on this dispute involving the McNair family and its private businesses.

The McNair family, anchored by patriarch Robert McNair’s 1999 founding of the Texans, has built a substantial portfolio that includes McNair Interests, with Cal McNair listed as chairman and CEO. The family’s vast holdings have drawn attention because of the intersection of sports ownership, behind-the-scenes corporate control, and prominent public controversies surrounding player conduct in the NFL.

As the litigation unfolds, observers will be watching how the court weighs the difference between internal corporate restructuring within a private family business and the asserted influence of a major professional sports league in its member clubs’ governance. The case could illuminate how much leeway a league can exercise in relation to owners and their family enterprises when disputes arise over the handling of high-profile scandals and the oversight of team and league decision-making.

The dispute adds another chapter to the long-running narrative of how ownership dynasties in sports navigate public criticism, investor interests, and internal family dynamics when faced with controversial incidents involving players and executives. Whether the courts will view Cary McNair Jr.’s accusations as a legitimate challenge to governance structures or as a personal grievance tied to the fraught intersection of family, business, and sports remains to be seen as the case proceeds.