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In 1966, Al Davis purchased a 10 percent stake in the Raiders for just $18,500. He’d then go on to buy or force out each additional owner and by 1976 he gained full control of the team. When Davis passed away in 2011, his son Mark took control at a 47 percent stakeholder and the managing general partner. But now it appears that Mark Davis is slowly and quietly beginning to divest himself from the legendary NFL franchise.
Mark Davis moved the franchise the Las Vegas in 2020 and recently sold a small stake in the team to Tom Brady and business partners Tom Wagner and Richard Seymour. But he’s not done yet. Margaret Fleming of Front Office Sports reports that Davis is in talks to sell a further 15 percent of the team to a pair of new owners.
Mark Davis Could Soon Becoming A Minority Shareholder In The Las Vegas Raiders
“Davis has reportedly agreed to sell off another 15% of the team. The two new minority owners would be Egon Durban, the co-CEO of Silver Lake and board chairman of Endeavor, and Michael Meldman, a luxury golf developer and Casamigos cofounder, and his family. Each would receive 7.5% stakes in the team,” Fleming reports.
The new deal also comes with a bit of a conflict of interest. Durban’s Silver Laker company is set to take over Endeavor, which in turn owns WME. WME is an agency that represents 78 NFL players, including superstars such as Joe Burrow and Justin Jefferson.
Fleming reports that should each of the deals go through, Endeavor would have to divest from WME’s football business or remove it from Durban’s control. Davis’ sale to Brady came with similar complications. Brady also works for FOX as a broadcaster and will call this year’s Super Bowl. But his ownership stake in the Raiders severely limits what he can do or say while working for the network.
Meanwhile, if Davis completes the latest sales he would own just around 30 percent of the team. That’s still a controlling stake. But it appears he’s not entirely opposed to cashing out altogether, which would mean a seismic shift in the way one of the league’s most iconic franchises is run.