There are few owners in professional sports who took over their team in a worse situation than Mark Davis did, following his father’s death in 2011. The Raiders’ salary cap was in dire straits, the talent was aging and overpaid, the team’s reputation was in the dumps and the stadium was badly in need of replacement, being the lone multi-use stadium left in the US.
To make matters even more challenging, Mark inherited the team from a true titan of the sport, a man who had either the utmost respect or the most fervent dislike from other members of the football community.