Oakland Raiders: Is The League Trying To Force Mark Davis Out?

Though the Oakland Raiders are still searching for a permanent home, one idea suggests that the league’s end game is to force Mark Davis to sell the club.

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After the Oakland Raiders were shut out of the Los Angeles Sweepstakes, Mark Davis – not to mention the team’s devoted fanbase – were left to ponder what the next move might be. Of course, the speculation about San Antonio and even San Diego have heated up in recent days, but the NFL might have a different end game to the relocation saga entirely in mind. There is belief among some that the league is moving to force a sale of the Raiders and force Davis out of the NFL altogether.

If there’s one thing we’ve always known, it’s that NFL ownership and the league offices are a good ol’ boys club. But coming out of the recently concluded meetings in Houston, we learned a few more things. The first being that Mark Davis is does not have a place at the good ol’ boys table since he was completely shut out and by all appearances, never had his relocation bid taken seriously.

The second thing we learned is more troubling – Cowboy’s owner Jerry Jones is the straw that stirs the NFL’s drink. It’s especially troubling since Jones’ ego is so large, it could already be seen from space. But now that he thwarted Davis’ bid to move to LA – and had his plan for a Rams/Chargers joint venue come to fruition — Jones has the ability to directly influence the future of the Raiders.

More to the point, if Davis was ever serious about moving the club to San Antonio (possible but not likley), Jones will undoubtedly use his influence to block a move to Texas since he’s already on record as saying he opposes moving a third team who will dip into his personal piggy bank. Think Jones can’t round up eight other votes to block the move? Think again. He mustered up 30 to get his preferred outcome in the LA Sweepstakes.

So what does this all mean for the Raiders? And what does it have to do with the league trying to force Davis out? Put on your tin foil hats and let’s connect a few dots that CBS Sports’ Jason La Canfora started to connect for us — but didn’t take quite far enough.

During an interview on Tiki and Tierney Show, La Canfora was discussing relocation and in particular, the Raiders moving to San Antonio.

"“They’re going to the Bay Area, or Davis is going to sell the team to somebody who will. The NFL wants two teams in the Bay Area. Somehow he missed the overriding thing that everybody else got here, which was they want two teams in L.A. and two teams in the Bay Area. And if he’s not wiling to do it, they’ll squeeze him and squeeze him and squeeze him and squeeze him until does. He’s not going anywhere. San Antonio? Are you kidding me? ‘Hey, Mark, here’s your relocation fee: a billion dollars. Good luck.’”"

If La Canfora is right and the league wants to keep two teams in LA and two in the Bay Area, then the league is not going to let Davis head south to San Diego either. And not just because it makes Philip Rivers cry.

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The league is already on record as saying that Oakland, as it currently sits, is not an acceptable venue for an NFL club. The league wants more the city of Oakland to do more — such as improving conditions — since Davis’ consolation prize for losing the LA Derby was a $100 million dollar check that doesn’t do much to bridge the funding gap the Raiders have in building a new stadium.

But as La Canfora said, the league wants two teams in the Bay Area. So what’s the solution? Prevent the Raiders from going not just to San Antonio but San Diego as well. Think that Roger Goodell would have any trouble convincing his good buddy Jones to round up nine votes to block a Raiders move south?

In Goodell’s ideal world, he would attract a Stan Kroenke-esque billionaire owner who would purchase the Raiders outright from Davis, build his own state of the art stadium, and voila, you have two teams in the Bay Area on solid financial ground – just like the league wants.

And the added bonus for Goodell, the league offices, and some of the owners, is that they would no longer have somebody named “Davis” running the show in Oakland.

One might ask though, how can Goodell put the Raiders up for sale when – well – the Raiders aren’t up for sale? It’s a good question and one that the current situation in Tennessee might shed some light on. Given the problems within the Titans’ organization following the death of owner Bud Adams, there are whispers and rumors about the league forcing a sale of the team.

Per a report regarding the Titans from Mike Florio on Pro Football talk:

"“[CEO and team President Steve] Underwood staunchly has insisted that the team isn’t for sale. But he has yet to acknowledge that the league could force a sale, if it demands compliance with the relevant rules and if the current owners can’t get there without shearing off major pieces of equity.”"

Again, what does this have to do with the Raiders? There is every reason to believe that La Canfora is correct when he stated that the league will squeeze, squeeze, and keep squeezing until they get their desired outcome – which is a financially stable situation in Oakland.

If Davis can’t comply with the league’s wishes and find a resolution to the current situation – that he can’t afford to move and can’t afford to stay – the league could move to force a sale of the Raiders to somebody who can afford to solidify the team’s position in Oakland.

The rules for forcing the sale are murky at best and the fine points are kept from the public. And since this isn’t a case of say a Donald Sterling who damaged the reputation of the league, the NFL can’t necessarily swoop in and force Davis to sell based on that. But since nobody really knows how the league can compel an owner to sell his club, there is a lot of room for – creative interpretation – of the rules. And let’s be honest here, the league has never shied away from creative interpretation of the rules when it applies to the Raiders.

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This is not to say this is what will happen, merely what could happen. After all, if it gets to that point in Tennessee and the league can force the sale of the Titans because they’re not happy with the team’s organizational power structure, who is to say that the league can’t also force Davis to sell the Raiders because they’re not happy with the organization’s lack of funding to pay for a stadium?

And as everybody who is a fan of the Silver and Black knows, there are some still within the NFL’s power structure who would love more than anything, to see the Raiders owned by somebody incredibly wealthy who will make them a lot of money – but more importantly somebody with a last name that isn’t Davis.

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