Sports Business Humor: Mark Davis Jokes About Who Is Running Raiders These Days (Hint: She’s WNBA’s Second Leading Scorer)
By Alan Snel of LVSportsBiz.com
That Mark Davis, what a goofball.
Before Tuesday’s Las Vegas Aces-Chicago Sky WNBA game, I asked the Aces owner who also happens to own that other Las Vegas team — the NFL Raiders — who was running his football club after Davis fired former team president Dan Ventrelle in early May.
With a mischievous smile, Davis quipped, “Kelsey.”
Hahahahahaha.
Yes, Davis JOKED that sharpshooting Aces guard Kelsey Plum is running the Raiders, an NFL team currently without a president.
Davis said he does not know when exactly he will announce a new team president.
In July 2021, ten months before Ventrelle was fired, former president Marc Badain also left the Raiders. Badain is now working for Los Angeles-based Oak View Group on a proposed arena project at Las Vegas Boulevard and Blue Diamond Road, south of the Strip.
Adding to the presidential drama at the Raiders in January, only four months before Davis fired Ventrelle, a newspaper report brought up the name of ex-Wynn Resorts CEO Matt Maddox as an executive who could be a possible fit for the Raiders prez job.
Davis then changed the subject on me and said the Aces’ opponent, Chicago Sky, was a tall team that could give the Aces problems.
Turned out, Davis was right about that one — Chicago came back from a 28-point first quarter deficit Tuesday and defeated the Aces, 104-95.
Plum, who scored 22 points last night, did have a fun connection with the Raiders last Friday during red carpet walk before a Title IX event at the Raiders stadium, Allegiant Stadium.
She walked the carpet with Raiders receiver Darren Waller.
Hmm, so there’s a Kelsey Plum connection to the Raiders, after all.
While Plum may not be running the Raiders, she did try her hand at UFC matchmaking for the Las Vegas-based MMA promoter. UFC bossman Dana White gave her a shot on the UFC matchmaking committee in 2020.
