Speros began talks with Richmond, Norfolk, the Lehigh Valley, and, most seriously, Houston, which was about to lose the NFL's Oilers. At one point, he was prepared to move to Houston and play in the Astrodome, and also intended to take on then-Houston Astros owner Drayton McLane as a minority partner. Williams had decided to get out even before Baltimore's fate was announced; a day after the Barracudas were eliminated from the playoffs (and a day before the Browns announced they were leaving Cleveland), he announced that the squad would not be playing in Birmingham in 1996, if it returned at all. Earlier, he had stated that he was not willing to play another season in Birmingham unless the league moved to a spring schedule; he felt it would be folly to risk another season going head-to-head with Alabama and Auburn.