Who owns raiders after davis death

Davis made a splash when he came to the Raiders as head coach in , but he was headed for even greater challenges. With his ability to recruit players, Davis weakened the NFL by luring away disgruntled star quarterbacks. Just eight weeks into the job, he signed quarterbacks John Brodie and Roman Gabriel, and other players. The NFL soon agreed to a merger. By the mids, Davis had acquired full control of the franchise, although he never owned all of it.

Many individuals own part of the Raiders, but they always entrusted Davis to run the team. Despite a decade of sellout seasons in Oakland, however, Davis could not persuade the city to make major improvements to the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum. Arguing that his team needed better digs — and the franchise needed the extra revenue to remain competitive — Davis signed an agreement with the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in March For a team to relocate, the NFL requires a three-quarters vote from its ownership, so when Davis tried to move to L.

In , after a lengthy federal court battle, a U. District Court jury unanimously ruled for the Raiders and against the NFL on antitrust and bad-faith counts. Two months later, Davis announced he had signed a year deal with five successive three-year renewal options to play at the L. The Raiders played their first game in Los Angeles in August and the following season won their third Super Bowl.

Tens of millions of viewers watched as Rozelle and Davis — bitter adversaries in the courtroom — shook hands in the locker room after the game. They included defensive end Lyle Alzado, who admitted to having used human-growth hormone and later died of cancer; defensive back Stacey Toran, who had a high blood-alcohol level when he was killed in a car crash; and defensive end John Matuszak, who died of an overdose of Darvocet, a prescription painkiller.

When he became aware of the problems, Davis took steps to deal with the problem, including assigning an assistant coach to monitor off-field activity. The stadium had history, dating to the Olympics, but it lacked luxury boxes, and the team seldom filled the 92,seat venue. The deal ultimately collapsed and the Raiders kept the money. However, the Raiders balked when the league stipulated that they would have to temporarily share the stadium with another NFL franchise in exchange for the right to host two future Super Bowls.

The NFL said the Raiders abandoned Los Angeles simply because they thought they had found a better deal in Oakland; Davis claimed the league forced him to retreat to Northern California by interfering with his attempt to secure a modern stadium with luxury boxes and other amenities. A state appeals court also ruled in that the Raiders were obligated to share with the league revenue gained from their lease in Oakland.

The Raiders also battled with their new landlords in Northern California, suing the Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum over promises that they said went unfulfilled after the team returned in The resurgence was short-lived; the young coach bolted for Tampa Bay and his new team clobbered the Raiders, , in the Super Bowl following the season. Over the nine years that followed, the Raiders hired six head coaches.

From to , the Raiders became the first team in NFL history to lose at least 11 games in seven consecutive seasons. Davis became more reclusive as the seasons passed, seldom speaking with reporters. In January, he broke nearly 18 months of public silence while introducing his latest coach, Hue Jackson. I certainly do.

He remained intimately involved with the team, traditionally spending a couple of days a week at practice and pulling aside players to give them tips. His job, his profession, his free time, everything was football. Davis had more than a few personality quirks. He seldom made a public appearance wearing anything other than a black or white Raiders sweatsuit. And, if his team lost in a particular city, he would switch hotels for the next visit. By , the leagues were fully merged and the NFL had the basic structure it retains until this day -- but with Pete Rozelle as commissioner, and not Davis, who wanted the job badly.

So he went back to the Raiders, running a team that won Super Bowls after the , and seasons -- the last one in Los Angeles, where the franchise moved in after protracted court fights.

It was a battling bunch, filled with players such as John Matuszak, Mike Haynes and Lyle Alzado, stars who didn't fit in elsewhere, and combined with homegrown stars -- Ken Stabler, another rebellious spirit; Gene Upshaw; Jack Tatum; Willie Brown; Shell; and dozens of others.

After extended lawsuits involving the move to Los Angeles, he went back to Oakland and at one point in the early years of the century was involved in suits in northern and southern California -- the one seeking the Los Angeles rights and another suing Oakland for failing to deliver sellouts they promised to get the Raiders back.

It saddens me to hear that he is gone. But for a long period after that, they had the worst record in the NFL, at one point with five coaches in six years. It is fitting that this year's Raiders team is built in typical Raiders fashion, with a bevy of speedsters on offense capable of delivering the deep-strike play Davis always coveted; a physically imposing defensive line that can pressure the quarterback; and an accomplished man-coverage cornerback in Stanford Routt.

Once a constant presence at practice, training camp and in the locker room, Davis has been rarely seen in public beyond the bizarre spectacles to fire and hire coaches, where he spent more time disparaging his former coach than praising his new one.

He did not appear at a single training camp practice this summer and missed a game in Buffalo last month, believed to be only the third game he missed in 49 seasons with the franchise.

Davis did attend Oakland's home game last week against New England. Although he was no longer as public a figure, he was still integrally involved in the team, from the draft to negotiating contracts to discussing strategy with his coaches. Jackson has said Davis was unlike any other owner he had worked for in his ability to understand the ins and outs of the game.

Although other owners and league executives branded Davis a renegade, friends and former players found him the epitome of loyalty. When his wife was stricken with a heart attack in the s, he moved into her hospital room and lived there for more than a month. And when he heard that even a distant acquaintance was ill, he would offer medical help without worrying about expense.

I don't know why they can't. A few years earlier, he said: "I can control most things, but I don't seem to be able to control death. Skip to main content Skip to navigation. Longtime Raiders owner Davis dies at age Tua helps Dolphins to win after Brissett injured.

Rams add Beckham Jr. Superman returns: Cam rejoins QB-thin Panthers. Ruggs' lawyers: Witness says firefighting slow. He had throat surgery three days before his death. This game-sealing INT by Huffy with ten men on the field — just one day after the death of Al Davis — is one we will never, ever forget. The NFL recently chose it as our best play of the decade.

Oakland led with seven seconds left and the Texans needed a touchdown to win. The Raiders only had 10 men on the field, though, as Texans quarterback Matt Schaub scrambled to find an open man.

Schaub tossed a ball that Raiders safety Michael Huff snagged in the end zone for an interception. Despite missing a man on the play, Oakland sealed the victory and dedicated the game to their late owner.