Musburger left ABC/ESPN in January '17 after 27 years to help launch VSiN, a gambling media outletGETTY IMAGES
Brent Musburger has agreed to a "three-year deal to be the radio play-by-play announcer for the Raiders starting this season," according to sources cited by Gilbert Manzano of the LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL. One source said that current Raiders voice Greg Papa, who has called games for the team since '93, "might not yet know of the switch." Musburger left ABC/ESPN in January '17 after 27 years "to help launch VSiN," a gambling media outlet. He will "remain in his role as VSiN managing editor" and as the host of a live online broadcast and a daily SiriusXM radio show (LAS VEGAS REVIEW-JOURNAL, 7/18). NBC SPORTS BAY AREA's Ray Ratto noted Papa is "one of the last links between Oakland and the Raiders." The move from Papa to Musburger comes "two years before the team's actual departure" from the Bay Area and "breaks one of the last enduring bonds of this quarter-century of Oakland Raiders football." With the "minimal likelihood" that the NFL will return to Oakland for a third time, this decision "borders on the epochal" (NBCSPORTSBAYAREA.com, 7/17).
NATURAL TIME FOR A SPLIT: THE ATHLETIC's Tim Kawakami notes Papa "never was close" to Raiders Owner Mark Davis, who he has "criticized on-air at times for doing things that his father never would've wanted." While the timing of the move may be Papa's call, he was "unlikely to go with the team to Las Vegas ... and was interested in other situations." As that became "more and more evident, it was natural for Raiders management to become less and less interested in keeping Papa around even in the short term." Despite that, the move is "too bad for Raiders fans who know Papa was the best local play-by-play guy in the NFL and a rightful heir to Bill King's booth" (THEATHLETIC.com, 7/18).
