Mark Davis reportedly upset that rival fans keep packing Allegiant Stadium
Mark Davis #MarkDavis
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis is reportedly unhappy that Allegiant Stadium is mostly filled by fans of rival teams.
The Raiders franchise had been in Oakland, Calif. for two separate tenures, with their last running from 1995 until 2019. Beginning in the 2020 season, the Raiders moved to Las Vegas, where they would play in the massive Allegiant Stadium. But, there hasn’t been much success, besides the 2021 campaign where they made a late run to a Wild Card berth. In 2022, the Raiders underperformed massively from their expectations entering the year, as they were 6-10 after Week 17.
Raiders owner Mark Davis is not happy about one aspect about the team’s tenure in Las Vegas — the fact that Allegiant Stadium has been filled mostly by fans of visiting teams.
A former Raiders executive told Outkick’s Jason Cole that Raiders owner Mark Davis is “embarrassed” about the stadium being filled by opposing fanbases.
“Mark is embarrassed,” a former Raiders executive told Cole, h/t Outkick. “He was p***ed last year when the Chiefs and Bears brought so many fans to town. Now it’s happening every week. He wants it to stop. He wanted Brady before when Jon Gruden finally turned it down and now, he wants Brady again. Mark thinks having McDaniels is going to be the key.
“But I’m hearing McDaniels is not so sure.”
One year ago, the Raiders made it to the playoffs and gave the Cincinnati Bengals a fight in the AFC Wild Card round. Davis and the Raiders went all in this past offseason, bringing in former New England Patriots offensive coordinator Josh McDaniels to be their new head coach Not just that, but they acquired big time players like wide receiver Davante Adams and linebacker Chandler Jones.
The expectation was that they would contend for the AFC West title in 2022 and make it back-to-back seasons with playoff berths at the minimum. Instead, they blew multiple big leads throughout the season and brought them to the point in which Davis publicly gave his support to McDaniels after starting the campaign with a 2-7 record.
Now, the team is entering an important offseason, where they will have to explore their options at quarterback. They sat Derek Carr for the final two games of the season, and could very well trade him by Feb. 15. The free agency class is topped by the likes of Tom Brady and Jimmy Garoppolo, both of whom played under McDaniels in New England.
We’ll see what Davis and the Raiders do this offseason, as they look to turn things around.