Their value increased $1 billion based on population projections?
Today Lake Mead, Las Vegas’ main water supply, is almost a muddy ditch. When that finally dries up (it will), where will all the desert refugees supposed to go, Oakland?
15
"there was little oversight of expenses, employees said, and money was often disbursed without a clear accounting of where it was going."
But they somehow the team got the taxpayers to make sure THEIR finances were in order to guarantee a heavily-subsidized stadium before they moved the team. For the record Nevada cut school funding right around the time this stadium deal was announced. Coincidence? I think not.
But hey, when you busy voting about a women's right you never see the glory of the Royal Scam...
12
Football and Capitalism...Feed the Beast. Blood, sweat and tears...
9
What happens in Vegas, never stays in Vegas for too long.
11
Business men acting as the worst leaders mankind has ever seen. Capitalist' don't care about anything but making as much as they can with as little work possible by them, the rest of the team work like crazy for them, why.
14
What’s a chief people officer, and where do I apply? I assume it pays well. I assume it pays well??
10
Sounds similar to the job George Costanza had with the Yankees.
14
Maybe LV needs to bring in the A's too.....
6
@John sounds like a done deal. expect an announcement this summer.
5
What this article boils down to is that the Raiders organization runs their business like every single other giant business. Nothing new in these claims that Tesla, Amazon, Walmart, Spotify on and on and on have been accused of before. Does it make it right? no. That being said we are a capitalist country and business is business and employees are expendable. #Facts
7
@Matt No, absolutely not. Unless you mean 'like every other giant business from the 1950's'.
Yes, a lot of these problems exist many places, but the main takeaway here is that this isn't even a professionally run business.
10
There is no such thing as competent management in any NFL team. The television networks shower hundreds of billions of dollars upon monopolistic owners who profit despite themselves. All to provide a vapid, repetitive, boring, formulaic product from a league that treats its players as if they are still on the plantation. Most players end debilitated from the brutality of this barbaric "game".
Football, like boxing, should be banned. Of course it will never happen, Americans love their gladiators too much.
17
@David Olson It's mind-boggling to me that a business the size of the Raiders makes such basic, stupid mistakes. With all the accounting and labor law software out there, even a mom-and-pop business knows how to file their taxes, pay their employees fairly, and keep up with legal and HR issues.
10
@David Olson Not true. Some of the teams are very well run and treat their employees (players and others) well.
4
The Raiders lost their very capable coach but still made the playoffs last year. The name of the game is winning and they did.
1
@rob Just about any team will have good seasons now and then, but it's been a long, long time since the Raiders have had any sustained success (clearly going back to the Al Davis days). LV is a pretty good team now, but I think it's unlikely they can either become an elite team, or even sustain their current level.
Junior Davis is clearly in way over his head.
7
@rob Hahahhahaha they lost to the Bengals twice. Derek Carr now has one more playoff appearance than I do.
3
The Raiders should go back to Oakland. They'll be glad they did, when Lake Mead dries up and people stop moving to a desert metropolis which has no water or electricity.
And the Raiders are not the only troubled "family business" in the NFL. There's also the Chicago Bears, still owned by the descendants of NFL founder George Halas. Their performance on the field has been as much of a joke as the Raiders.
13
Let's not loose site of the the fact that this team is heavily subsidized by the taxpayers. The article could also go in to how the taxpayer are being taken for a ride, by this franchise.
32
This team was a cancer to the Bay Area and I couldn't be more pleased that they're gone for good.
Seems the classy franchise across the Bay somehow convinced them to do the opposite with disastrous results.
7
There is no chance the NFL will take any meaningful action and there is almost certainty that whatever wrongdoings occurred will never make it to public view. The NFL is a billionaire boys club. It's 32 1% of 1%ers look out for each other. From a money perspective the NFL SHOULD pressure the Raiders to straighten up, simply because of the money they leave on the table b/c they don't know what they are doing.
8
The muppet who owns the Raiders should tell prospective A Player Execs he wants to hire that he will be "stepping aside" from day to day operations (which sounds like has always been the case anyway) + he should hire someone with legit business experience as President and CEO. They were interviewing people recently for senior roles and ghosted them all, not a good look -- and now we know why. Bring in someone who also excels at internal culture turnaround to get people in the building feeling good about their jobs/roles. Davis should focus his energy and resources on showing up ringside with aging gold diggers -- so much opportunity in Vegas being squandered b/c a probably nice - but definitely incompetent - muppet owns this team. Community feels no connection to this team, completely the opposite of the situation with the Golden Knights.
8
@Laura
But then the Knights are owned/run by one of the outstanding, self-made executives in America. The Raiders are owned by an incompetent with no business experience.
1
It’s really unfortunate that this article is so boring when the real story within the Raiders sounds like something straight out of a soap opera.
7
@CV Mark Davis was handed the team by his father. It is the only "family business" unlike the rest of the league where the owner's had to "prove it" in the real business world and that's how they became wealthy enough to afford an NFL team. Davis has never had a real job in his entire life. His only "job" really came when he was in his 50s, with the Raiders - a team his dad owned. So he's not coming at this like other owners who know how to build a business that works and that's really the core of the issues here.
18
hello, the Detroit Lions are on the phone and would like a word....
2
@Laura The Packers don't fit your description as they are owned by the community.
4
Why is all this not news? Because it's the Raiders! Always weird. Always off center. The team Broncos fans loved to hate but who wouldn't miss a game against them for love nor money. Snake Kenny Stabler, Fred Biletnikoff, Cliff Branch--to watch them play actually made football wild and fun. You never knew what was going to happen except that Stabler's passes almost always hit thei target. Mike Davis is a mess. So was his Pop. Yet the mess was always entertaining--and still is. The Raiders will probably go undefeated this year. Chuckle chuckle.
7
Now if Oakland can only send their A's to Vegas, they will be a better city for it. I hear from NASA that the Moon is looking for an MBA franchise.
1
Anyone who confuses being a business person with being a success would vote for a fake business person for President.
Wait, that happened!
27
And they just hired a head coach who was a failure as a HC in Denver, who also accepted the HC position with the Colts before he backed out of the job. His reputation is mostly due to the fact that he had Tom Brady as his QB for many years. The NFL can force a change in ownership and it might be a blessing.
9
@Abbott Hall
the nfl is a completely hypocritical and often times feckless organization - they still haven't taken action aganist deshaun watson - a serial sexual predator.
4
Article glossed over the part where the league conducted an 'independent' investigation of the Washington franchise under an agreement that Snyder could withhold results, which is what he did. The Congressional investigation revealed this. It's clear that all these 'billion dollar' franchises are an irresponsible joke at best, exploitative more like, and simply enjoy a lazy monopoly over hard working players and coaches.
15
@MJW And that the #2 in the NFL Head Office privately agreed to make Washington's penalties/fines "go away".
There is no incentive for LV or Washington to improve when the already-weak penalties are quietly reversed.
6
The Raiders have historically been the flakiest franchise in NFL history, even from their beginnings in the AFL. This should be no surprise to anyone who has followed the Davis family fortunes, including Raiders founder Al Davis and his inheritors. This is yet another flake turn in their fortunes.
21
@Casaubon I'm sure the NFL would love for a properly run international hospitality/entertainment corporation that is based in Las Vegas - like MGM Resorts - to own the Raiders, a ridiculously undervalued/underleveraged asset b/c of chronic incompetence at the top. That said, it's doubtful the league will do anything when you consider much worse examples out there w/no accountability (Snyder, Kraft, Jones, etc). NFL teams are called "clubs" for a reason.
3
its the davis family. what else did you expect? rationality? morals? ethics? you don't know how al davis got control of the team then.
30
Typical devolutions in an inherited family business where the son is to the father what a Lightning Bug is to actual lightning. Incompetence is a dish best served hot.
28
Las Vegas and the Raiders. I’m going to be completely subjective here. But in this equation, 1 1 seems to = allege and corruption. I suppose you couldn’t have chosen a better melding of an infamous city with an infamous pro football franchise. Al Davis is certainly smiling upon Vegas at this time.
2
'overpayment of taxes" sounds bogus - has anyone ever willingly done so? This was a poorly veiled reference to senior management skimming from the top.
they couldn't hire a cpa or even an accountant with excel knowledge? do yo think ms adams was hired for her exceptional human resources experience?
6
Who cuts Davis' hair, Moe Howard?
43
You would think a guy with that much $$$$ could find a decent barber.
6
Go figure. From Oakland to LA, back to Oakland, finding happiness nowhere so move to Las Vegas and everything goes to pot. What a shock.
24
With all the money that Mark Davius inherited, couldn't he get a decent hair cut?
31
What happens in Vegas, stays in Vegas! Not this time.
4
I am a diehard fan of the dark side, and to read this croc of mess, I didn't like the move to Vegas, but THE RAIDERS, is not Vegas, They are a California based team. Moving there has been nothing but issues, I just pray, that the Death Star strikes, orbit was all for nothing
8
This will definitely play into the on fields performance of the Raiders up coming season and in the next few years. Predicting under the new coaches and team makeup 7-10 at best.
2
@Kerm you Must not have read the article just commenting on the headline lol. You clearly don’t know football I’m predicting 13-4 worst case scenario.
@Kerm If that. The AFC West is BRUTAL, they could be 0-6 just in the division. Also worth noting that Patriots assistant coaches have a horrid record as head coaches. If the culture is so polluted in the building on top of all that, hard to imagine the product on the field being good this year. It's a shame so much taxpayer money was wasted on this team / stadium. They should have done it with private $ and raised public money to fix the school system in Nevada which is dead last in the nation (that's right, behind Alabama etc).
15
@Kerm Derek Carr is waaay over-rated. Raiders won't break .500 this coming season if he is still the QB
3
I really applaud people like Ms. Adams who bring these issues to light. I’m sure people like her just want to work and make an honest living but when there’s so much nonsense around you, you really have to speak up or it just gets worse. At least that’s what I know from personal experience.
16
@Diane hello diane, thank you for sharing your opinion. please remember to not believe everything that you read. i am a former raiders employee and experienced the terrible culture first-hand. i can assure you that much of it was created by people like nicole adams, her bosses, and dan ventrelle.
18
@xEE
Well, you should probably tell your side to reporters instead of anonymous comments on the side, then.
10
@xEE
Well, that's interesting. Care to expand on that?
9
Sounds like “just win baby” might not be the best way to run a business after all. Americans should take note.
11
Las Vegas residents got bamboozled paying $750 million. Way too many employees leaving to be coincidental.Lots of unanswered questions because employees want (need) their severance pay and rather stay quiet!
Local TV station are also staying mum because they are too invested in promoting the Raiders as there “Team!”
NFL needs to investigate and a forensic accounting is in order.
37
@Larry they overpaid taxes a few years and some game day employees did not get overtime but later still got paid big deal the employees that where responsible got fired and then made crazy accusations. The nfl has been secretly trying to replace mark Davis since 2014. This pails in comparison to what is being covered up with the Washington football team.
3
Private business, part of a league of wealthy owners - too easy to see why this isn’t a surprise to anyone who has worked in corporate America. There are enough irregularities with public companies, utilities and Wall Street to keep consulting companies and accounting firms busy. Sounds like no crimes were committed, just a horrible place to work. Lesson learned - take a big payout to stay quiet.
1
The solution, as usual, is very easy. Shut the whole thing down. Then, on Sunday, Monday, Thursday, and, apparently, soon every other day of the week, we spend instead three hours reading books. Well, other than those now out of work, since not a single one of them, it appears, every bothered to learn how.
15
I was pretty surprised when Mike Mayock was hired for such a senior role after spending most of his time on screen for the NFL Network. Now that I see Marcel Reece has been elevated to a similar position likely for similar reasons which are a mix of notoriety and deference to management it is no wonder why this organization is floundering. Does this management style remind us of any other failed executive that we know?
31
Attending shows at Allegiant is an unpleasant experience. We had to park far away and walk over I-15. There was wiring that belonged in a conduit resting on girders. My wife refuses to return Raiders or not. We skipped a Billy Joel show for this reason. Management vacuums in the office are not a surprise.
28
Curious if any of this mess has affected the Las Vegas Aces? Davis appears to be throwing a lot of money at the team, but if no one is keeping track could players and/or personnel be in for a nasty surprise?
14