Son of billionaire Houston Texans owner claims NFL tried to ‘silence’ him, sues for $60 million

The son of billionaire Houston Texans owner Janice McNair plans to sue the league for $60 million for its alleged “deliberate effort to silence” him, court records show.

The league allegedly got Robert Cary McNair Jr. sidelined from the family businesses because officials didn’t like him questioning its “decision making” in two high-profile player scandals, he claimed in Manhattan Supreme Court papers filed Friday.

“When Cary McNair began asking pointed questions about NFL player scandals that potentially implicated the NFL, its personnel, and its decision-making process, the NFL worked to silence him,” he said in the summons with notice, a precursor to a lawsuit.

It’s unclear when McNair, 66, was removed from his business roles.

In 2021, Texans quarterback Deshawn Watson made headlines after facing numerous allegations of sexual assaults, including 22 civil lawsuits. In 2023, a minority owner of the team, Javier Loya, was charged with rape in Kentucky. The charge was later dropped as part of a plea deal.

The league allegedly tried to shut down McNair Jr.’s questions by “negotiating a restructuring of the McNair family business and McNair family trust, which led to the more pliable Cal McNair, Cary’s brother, being installed as the Owner’s Representative, and to Cary McNair being stripped of his roles and employment with the McNair family enterprises,” he contended.

He was then “cut out of any meaningful role with McNair-associated entities so that, among other things, [he] could exercise no influence over NFL-related matters,” according to court papers.

McNair Jr. made headlines last year when he was drawing up power plays of his own — attempting to get his mom, Janice, 88, who is listed as co-founder and senior chair of the Houston Texans, declared incapacitated.

He dropped that legal case in November after a Houston judge refused to force his mother to undergo an examination to determine her mental capacity, according to reports.

The Houston-based McNair family is worth more than $7.3 billion. Patriarch Robert McNair made his fortune in 1999 by selling power company Cogen Technologies to Enron for $1.5 billion.

The elder McNair, who died in 2018 at age 81, founded the Texans in 1999 with a $600 million bid.

Janice, who had four kids with Robert, inherited ownership of the team after her husband’s death and their son Cal is listed as chairman and CEO. The family also runs McNair Interests, of which McNair Jr. served as CEO.

McNair Jr. was accused in a November 2023 lawsuit of breaching his fiduciary duty to the family businesses by secretly entering employment agreements without the board’s knowledge.

The case was stayed, according to McNair Jr.’s attorney, Tony Buzbee, who called those allegations against McNair Jr. frivolous and promised further details of his clients claim against the NFL next week.

“He asked questions anyone with an obligation of oversight would ask,” Buzbee said of McNair Jr.’s claim against the NFL. “He was silenced by removal.”

The NFL, McNair Interests and the Houston Texans did not immediately return requests for comment.