Raiders Deny ESPN Report That Davis Is Selling Portion Of Team
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Raiders Maintain That Al Davis Still Plans To
Eventually Cede Control Of Team To Son Mark |
Raiders Senior Exec John Herrera denied an ESPN report that Raiders Owner Al Davis and Chief Exec Amy Trask are in negotiations to sell at least 10% of the team to a group led by Pinnacle Foods Chair & CEO C. Dean Metropoulos, according to Steve Corkran of the OAKLAND TRIBUNE. Herrera described Davis' reaction to the report from ESPN's Chris Mortensen as "incredulous," and said it is "totally unfounded and false." Herrera: "Once again, for reasons known only to him, Mortensen has fabricated a story which has no basis in fact." Herrera: "Al Davis owns the Raiders and some day his son, Mark Davis, will own the Raiders." Herrera indicated that Mortensen "did not contact him, Davis or Trask for his report." Herrera: "It's amazing that he would report a story that is totally fabricated and do so without contacting anyone from the Raiders." While the ESPN report noted that Metropoulos has "publicly denied" an attempt to move an NFL team to the L.A. market, it cites league sources who "confirmed Metropoulos' intent to occupy" the city (INSIDEBAYAREA.com, 1/4). Metropoulos had talks to buy the Raiders seven or eight months ago, a financial source said, but talks broke off then and there have been no discussions since. The source said Metropoulos was interested in the team last summer, but he is currently not looking to buy an NFL club given the state of the economy and his belief that prices of teams will fall. He also has looked at buying the Jaguars (Daniel Kaplan, SportsBusiness Journal). Mortensen yesterday reported Davis and Trask are "negotiating to sell off another chunk of the team." Mortensen: "They sold 20% in October 2007 to three businessmen to get more cash. But this group is headed by billionaire C.D. Metropoulos, whose broker is piecing together a deal that would give Metropoulos a 3-5 year option to buy window from the closing date. If the deal does close Davis would remain in total control for now" ("Sunday NFL Countdown," ESPN, 1/4).
UPON FURTHER REVIEW: Trask said, "Chris' report is not true. We are not negotiating with this group. We know who they are and that they want to purchase the controlling interest in a team. This team is not available to them. They are unhappy about that and have turned to Chris to assist them in their efforts, which is easy to do since Chris contacted no one with the Raiders to ascertain if there was any truth to his report. There is not." However, Mortensen yesterday in an e-mail "stood by the report." Mortensen: "The Raiders have lost the privilege with me of running stories past them for comment" (AP, 1/4). Mortensen later yesterday added, "I should not have qualified any potential communication with the Raiders as a 'privilege.' I'd say they have repeatedly diminished and discouraged efforts to reach out for an official comment based on the repeated denials of prior stories" (ESPN.com, 1/4).
LOST AT SEA? In San Jose, Tim Kawakami writes the Raiders "will be owned and controlled by the Davis family, now and in perpetuity. Probably." The Raiders' "ownership situation has never looked more vulnerable," as Davis' "health is more of an issue every day, and there are not many notable signs that Mark is ready to take over some day soon" (SAN JOSE MERCURY NEWS, 1/5).
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