A week ago, former Raiders CEO Amy Trask talked about the changing ownership dynamic within the Raider organization and pointed to Jim Gray as a personality that hasn’t been a positive influence on the team.
According to Trask, Gray’s influence has even carried over to the product on the field.
“There are, of course, on field problems, but there are also a lot of problems off the field behind the scenes,” Trask said on CBS Sports HQ last week.
“Many people assume when I say ‘behind the scenes’ that I’m referring to Tom Brady, but I’m not. The individual who orchestrated Tom’s purchase in the Raiders of the limited partnership interest in the Raiders, Jim Gray, has been working to orchestrate the purchase of an interest in the Raiders since Al [Davis] was alive and we were in the process of selling a minority interest in the team,” Trask continued.
“Well, he finally orchestrated the purchase and now he is involved in every aspect, or almost every aspect, of the organization. This is having an impact on the organization, not only off the field, but on the field. Pete Carroll is a very good head coach, but the problems we’re seeing on the field are related to the problems that are rampant throughout the organization. They’ve got to fix the off-field behind the scenes issues in order to give Pete a chance to be his best.”
There hasn’t been much of a follow up to Trask’s comments in recent days (you can probably guess the reason), but Raiders Fan Radio host ‘Murf’ talked about her report on X.
Murf’s comments lined up with what has been talked about for the last 12 months about the changing dynamic among the Raiders’ ownership group, but his comments on Gray are relatively new territory.
Do with these comments what you want, but Murf has never been one to make up stories to drum up attention or gain social media clicks…
“The dysfunction is strong with this one…
Meet Jim Gray, a 70-year-old broadcaster that has quietly become the most powerful man in the building who doesn’t actually own the team… yet.
Some inside the Raiders facility describe Jim Gray as “Mark Davis’s shadow owner.” Not a minority partner (on paper), but the dude’s fingerprints are on EVERY major decision since the move to Vegas. Hiring searches? Yes.
Draft war room? Uh huh.
Installs? Yep, “allegedly”.
Amy Trask, the only human who ever told Al Davis “no” and lived said on her podcast last week:
“Jim has his hands in every corner of that organization… it’s paralyzing them.”
Translation: Sounds like an attempt at a hostile takeover of some sort.
2007: Raiders sell 20% minority stake. Jim tries to broker his own buyer. Trask shuts him down cold. It was said Gray was LIVID and told people “I’ll own part of this team one day, watch.”
Fast-forward to 2023… he delivers Tom Brady’s ownership slice on a silver platter. Guess who brokered it? That’s right. Vengeance arc completed.
Brady didn’t just wake up one day and say “I want 5% of the Raiders.” It was Gray who spent two years whispering in both Mark’s and Tom’s ears until the deal got done. Brady’s stake? Officially tiny. Gray’s influence through Brady? Astronomical.
Mark Davis trusts these 4 people most:
- His barber
- The ghost of Al Davis
- Jim Gray
- Jon Gruden
Everybody else is just renting space.
Bottom line: The Raiders aren’t owner-run. They’re best-friend-of-the-owner-run. And until Mark wakes up or the NFL forces a sale, Jim Gray is the most powerful non-owner in the league.
That scares the **** out of me as a fan.”
One rumor that Murf didn’t mention is that some believe there are minority owners in the organization that have their eyes on a bigger prize.
Not a lot is known about the succession plan Davis has in place, but it is believed by some that one or more of the minority owners in the organization have an aggressive eye on one day owning the team.
It would be interesting to know if some of the negative influences among ownership are motivated by more than just winning football games at this early stage in their involvement in ownership.
x: @raidersbeat
Mark should contact the Buss family on how to bow out gracefully. Call up the Fertitas
Jim Gray is an egotistical self-indulgent moron that doesn’t know anything about anything. Another reason Mark needs to sell the team.
There was NO Succession Plan… That was and is part of the Problem.. Mr. Davis didn’t believe in Death and always felt that he could fight it like anything else… so he felt that if he addressed succession he would be giving in to Death… Believe it or Not.
I’m just not one to tell another American what to do with their property. It’s a core value supported by the phrase life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. I would however suggest a succession plan if someone were to ask me. My succession plan for the raiders would be to leave it publicly like the Green Bay Packers. There’s an organization that enjoys frequent and consistent success. But until Mr Davis asks me it’s just an opinion I share on the internet.