Raiders Owner Mark Davis Overhauls Front Office With Three New Executives As Part Of New Restructured Business Operations
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
The Las Vegas Raiders have hired a trio of new front office executives to oversee the team’s business operations in a new restructured lineup under team owner Mark Davis .
The Raiders’ new business team features the hires of Michael Crome as chief financial officer, Kevin Manara as general counsel and former stadium board consultant Jeremy Aguero as the Raiders chief operations and analytics officer.
Crome, Manara and Aguero report to team president Dan Ventrelle, who took over for former president Marc Badain in July when Badain and two other financial executives for the Raiders left, according to Davis in published reports, because of accounting irregularities.
The Raiders front office restructuring includes the departure of senior VP/Chief Revenue Officer Mark Shearer. He spent more than 22 years with the Raiders, including the last seven as chief revenue officer and seven years before that as vice president for business development.
It should be noted that Shearer’s departure is not related to the financial irregularities issue cited by Davis in published reports.
Manara is a former NFL in-house lawyer who handled labor relations and policy for 13 years.
Aguero is the former principal of Las Vegas-based Applied Analysis, which was hired by the Las Vegas Stadium Authority as a consultant to guide its meetings and track the progress of the construction of Allegiant Stadium. Aguero also worked with Ventrelle on the state legislation that created the funding mechanism to pay for the public’s $750 million contribution to help build the Raiders’ domed, 62,000-seat stadium. State lawmakers approved the bill during a special session in 2016 before former Gov. Brian Sandoval signed it into law.
Crome is a former business executive with Pinnacle Entertainment and Caesars Entertainment. Out of the office, Crome is known for running seven marathons in seven days on all seven continents.
Aguero left Applied Analysis in late October and started with the Raiders early this month. He’s very familiar with the workings of the stadium because he helped craft the state legislative bill that created the hotel room tax increase that is funding the public contribution and tracked the development of the stadium for the public stadium board.
LVSportsBiz.com today reached Aguero, who said he shares Davis’s vision for the Raiders role in the Las Vegas market.
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What’s interesting is that the Raiders do not have a chief marketing officer, a business position that’s usually slated in most major league sports teams.
In addition, the team’s front office restructuring comes during a time when the Raiders are also coping with major changes on the field. The insulting emails of former coach Jon Gruden led to Gruden’s resignation last month, while the team let go two first round draft picks from 2020 during the past seven days — Henry Ruggs III and Damon Arnette — because of their extreme behavior off the field.
The Raiders have had an up-and-down season, with five wins in eight games. The team won two heart-pounding overtime games against Baltimore and Miami at Allegiant Stadium while playing solid in decisive wins over Denver and Philadelphia. But the Raiders’ three losses have included disappointing, lackluster performances against Chicago at home and the New York Giants on the road Sunday.
The Raiders play one of their biggest games of the season Sunday when the Kansas City Chiefs visit Allegiant Stadium for a nationally-televised Sunday Night Football game.
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