Las Vegas Odd Couple Of Dana White and Mark Davis Facing Problems With Their Billion-Dollar Sports Organizations
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By Alan Snel, LVSportsBiz.com Publisher/Writer
They came to Las Vegas from opposite ends of the United States. And in a hotel-casino town that was known for Wynn, Adelson and Gaughan, these two men with the casual public personas and opposite political outlooks have now assumed center stage for running Las Vegas’ two most valuable sports organizations.
The first moved from the Northeast United States, claiming he had to flee Boston because mobsters were shaking him down. Dana White, 53, ended up managing a Las Vegas-based MMA promotion that sold for more than $4 billion in 2016. White is the undisputed front man and public face of Ultimate Fighting Championship, a blunt-talking ringleader who drops F-bombs as easily as Trader Joe’s cashiers asking every customer, “how ya doing today?”
Known for wearing jeans and T-shirts with UFC sponsor logos, White released only 13 months ago a slickly-produced video mocking media members who questioned his decision to stage UFC fight shows during the COVID-19 pandemic. He’s a big Donald Trump fan who flew with Trump, the former Republican president, on Air Force 1 during the 2020 campaign trail.
The other then came from Northern California, moving his nomadic NFL franchise to Las Vegas because Southern Nevada contributed $750 million in public money to help build a luxurious stadium accessible to the Strip for his Raiders. Mark Davis, 67, now owns a sports team with a value of more than $5 billion thanks to the enormous stadium subsidy.
Davis also enjoys wearing collar-free shirts and jeans, accented with a white fanny pack at Las Vegas Aces games where he sits courtside with his friends like former Nevada Gov. Steve Sisolak, a Democrat.
The Raiders/Aces owner, who enjoys schmoozing with fans of his Raiders and defending WNBA champion Aces teams, has supported Black social justice issues and stepped into a bright spotlight in 2021 when he required all Raiders fans to show proof of COVID vaccination in order to attend Raiders home games at Allegiant Stadium.
In a sports management world where so many owners and team presidents are stiffs, inaccessible and public speakers of scripted, stilted talking points, both White and Davis can come off as down-to-earth, fun-loving, refreshing execs who just also happen to go home at night to properties worth millions of dollars here in metro Las Vegas.
It might be fun to share laughs with them. But at the end of the day their bank accounts show they’re not like you and me.
And now the headlines show White and Davis share one other trait — dealing with their sports organizations beset with major problems.
On New Year’s Eve in a Cabo Lan Lucas, Mexico nightclub, White and his wife, Anne, engaged in a physical slapping altercation that White addressed within 24 hours on the TMZ TV show.
It was behavior that would cost many sports execs their jobs. And ESPN, which broadcasts UFC fight shows under a broadcast agreement, drew criticism for underplaying White’s New Year’s Eve behavior when it devotes much more attention to athletes who strike their partners.
White also went punishment-free from his bosses at Endeavor just a few weeks before his branded slap competition came off — in the eyes of many critics and fans — as barbaric, crude and disgusting.
White’s Power Slap League, staged at the UFC Apex building next to UFC headquarters in the southwest valley, consists of two competitors taking turns slamming open hands into each other’s defenseless heads. Somehow, this so-called sport was also sanctioned by the Nevada Athletic Commission. And a mainstream network, TBS, offers a platform for this state-approved violence.
Meanwhile, Davis’ two teams are facing allegations that paint a very different picture of life behind front offices that project rosy narratives.
At Davis’ Aces team, a former player who was traded to Los Angeles last week, Dearica Hamby, has charged the WNBA team with pregnancy discrimination. “Being traded is a part of the business. Being lied to, bullied, manipulated, and discriminated against is not,” Hamby wrote on her Instagram account.
Hamby’s charges came before the Aces acquired free agent player Candace Parker, a talented two-time former WNBA MVP who has won league titles with Los Angeles and Chicago.
Davis’ Aces have also drawn attention for not responding to media’s questions connected to Hamby’s explosive charges.
The Aces also did not respond to LVSportsBiz.com’s request for a response to Hamby’s allegations.
Davis’ Raiders also faced allegations of a hostile work environment in May.
Former interim team president Dan Ventrelle said he was fired by Davis at the time after he informed the NFL of what he called Davis’ “unacceptable response” to “multiple written complaints from employees that Mark created a hostile work environment and engaged in other potential misconduct (that) caused me grave concern.”
An NFL spokesman said in May that Ventrelle’s allegations would be investigated. “We recently became aware of these allegations and take them very seriously,” NFL spokesman McCarthy said at the time. “We will promptly look into the matter.”
LVSportsBiz.com reached out to the NFL, Raiders and Ventrelle to see if there was an update on the NFL investigation into Ventrelle’s allegations. We have not heard back, but we will share their statements if they issue any comments. Ventrelle was hired by the WWE in September.
Ventrelle’s allegations were eclipsed only two months later by the large media coverage of Davis hiring Las Vegas attorney Sandra Douglass Morgan in July.
In her introductory comments, Morgan said she was aware of the Raiders’ front office turnover and realized she needed to lend some stability to the tumultuous situation.
At the time, Douglass Morgan did not address Ventrelle’s hostile workplace allegations.
White and Davis did have one interesting connection when White said on national TV in August that he brokered a deal to bring former Patriots quarterback Tom Brady to the Las Vegas Raiders in 2020 as a free agent. Davis did not appreciate White’s comments, telling LVSportsBiz.com in August, “He said it was a done deal. How much money was the deal and for how many years? And who did the negotiating? And what was his fee?”
White is a Raiders season suite holder and also attends Aces games.
These days, both White and Davis are linked by their desire to deal with allegations of the past year and to calm the drama that characterizes UFC and the Raiders.
