Sources: Raiders trying to sell more stake in team

[hawaiianboy]

Sources: Raiders trying to sell more stake in team

By Chris Mortensen
ESPN.com


Updated: January 4, 2009, 1:04 PM ET



The Oakland Raiders, through owner Al Davis and Raiders chief executive Amy Trask, are negotiating to sell off another percentage of the team, this time to a billionaire who has been trying to buy a franchise with designs on moving it to Los Angeles, according to league sources.

Trask has been spearheading negotiations with a group headed by C. Dean Metropoulos in a transaction that would sell at least 10 percent stake in the Raiders, sources said. Forbes Magazine has estimated the Raiders' value at a little more than $800 million, but league sources say the calculation is closer to $700 million.

The Raiders sold 20 percent of the team in October 2007 to three businessmen to get more cash infusion, which is also the goal on the latest transactor, the sources said. However, the 2007 sell-off did not give those investors an option to purchase the team and Davis remained in control as majority owner.

Metropoloulos' lead broker is trying to negotiate a purchase option on the Raiders within 3-5 years upon closing the deal, sources said.

Metropoulos had been identified previously by the Philadelphia Daily News last offseason as an aggressive buyer with a desire to relocate a franchise to Los Angeles. He has publicly denied his reported attempts, but sources confirm their veracity.

The Raiders and Jaguars were teams previously identified among those franchises and the latest round of talks with Oakland have been renewed after Jacksonville owner Wayne Weaver rebuffed Metropoulos' bid because he opposed any plan to relocate the franchise, sources said.

Chris Mortensen is a senior NFL analyst for ESPN.

[hawaiianboy]

Los Angeles :rolleyes:

I don't know much about old man Metropoulos, but his son who must be almost 30 now I'd guess, is said to be smart as a whip...


Hopefully, Al uses the potential influx of money better than he did last offseason... It probably would have been better to bring in a real partner a few years ago and worked to get a new stadium in the Bay Area rather than piecemeal it out like this...

[Postmaster]

Metropoloulos' lead broker is trying to negotiate a purchase option on the Raiders within 3-5 years upon closing the deal, sources said.


This is the interesting part. Is Al throwing in the towel?

[Limee]

Presumably if they get an option to buy it could avoid a potentially messy situation post Al. I can't believe anyone else is going to want to pump in more cash for no say after how money was flushed down the drain last year. Moving to LA would seriously suck for the local fans who have suffered through so much losing the team before to get them back and then the delights of the last 6 years. :lowblow:

[fatdog]

I wonder how this effects the off season as far as GM and HC?

If Al hires a limp dick HC before a GM, this would look kinda shitty to an investor imo.

[CrossBones]

L.A. Raiders. Has kind of a nice ring to it.

[JohnQ]

L.A. Raiders. Has kind of a nice ring to it. :cry: :lowblow:

[Postmaster]

Al Davis blasts ESPN report that he's selling part of Raiders
By Steve Corkran
Oakland Tribune
Posted: 01/04/2009 12:17:38 PM PST


The Raiders dismissed an ESPN report Sunday that said managing general partner Al Davis is negotiating to sell part of the team to a group with designs on moving it to Los Angeles.

The report was written by ESPN's Chris Mortensen, who Davis called "a professional liar" on Sept. 30 for his penchant for writing stories about the Raiders without attributing them to named persons employed by the Raiders.

On Sunday, Mortensen wrote that Davis and chief executive Amy Trask are negotiating a transaction with a group led by C. Dean Metropoulos a transaction that would turn over at least 10 percent of the Raiders. Mortensen attributed the story to unnamed "league sources."

Raiders senior executive John Herrera spoke with Davis on Sunday morning and characterized Davis' reaction to the report as "incredulous." He also vehemently denied the report.

"The report from Chris Mortensen which states that the Raiders, Al Davis and Amy Trask are in negotiations with Dean Metropoulous to sell the team is totally unfounded and false," Herrera said. "Once again, for reasons known only to him, Mortensen has fabricated a story which has no basis in fact."

Davis owns a bigger stake in the Raiders than any of the other shareholders. He sold approximately 20 percent of the team in October of 2007 to three investors as a means of infusing more cash into the day-to-day operations of the franchise.

That transaction did not cede any control to the three investors or give them an option
to purchase the team at some point.

Mortensen's report said Metropoulos' group is seeking a purchase option within three to five years. The Philadelphia Daily News last year said Metropoulos has a desire to move an NFL team to Los Angeles.

The ESPN report said that Metropoulos has publicly denied any such intent. However, it also said league sources confirmed Metropoulos' intent to occupy the Los Angeles market.

"Al Davis owns the Raiders and some day his son, Mark Davis, will own the Raiders," Herrera said. "Every facet of this story is dead wrong."

Mortensen did not quote anyone from the Raiders. Herrera said Mortensen did not contact him, Davis or Trask for his report.

"It's amazing that he would report a story that is totally fabricated and do so without contacting anyone from the Raiders," Herrera said.

[hawaiianboy]

RAIDERS DENY REPORT OF POSSIBLE SALE
Posted by Mike Florio on January 4, 2009, 5:13 p.m.

The Oakland Raiders deny a report from ESPN’s Chris Mortensen that owner Al Davis and Chief Executive Amy Trask are negotiating a potential sale of the team to C. Dean Metropoulos, a billionaire from Philadelphia who reportedly hopes to buy a team and move it to Los Angeles.

Per Mortensen, the Raiders are talking to Metropoulos about purchasing a piece of the team, and that Metropoulos is angling for a path to obtain controlling interest within three to five years.

“Chris’ report is not true,” Trask told the Associated Press. “We are not negotiating with this group. We know who they are and that they want to purchase the controlling interest in a team.

“This team is not available to them. They are unhappy about that and have turned to Chris to assist them in their efforts, which is easy to do since Chris contacted no one with the Raiders to ascertain if there was any truth to his report. There is not. It would have been so easy for him to contact us and ask if we are negotiating with this group. We are not.”

Mortensen defended his decision not to contact the Raiders for a comment before publishing the report on ESPN’s SportsCenter and Sunday NFL Countdown.

“The Raiders have lost the privilege with me of running stories past them for comment,” Mortensen said. “This stems from their history of denials to most stories I have reported – as well as others in the media – when those stories have eventually proven to be true. The latest example is I reported that Al Davis planned to interview Giants offensive coordinator Kevin Gilbride and, of course, the story was trashed by a team spokesman.”

Mort, we’re going to tread lightly here because you broke ranks with your ESPN brethren and acknowledged our existence last night. (We wish you well in your coming job search.) That said, in our non-J-school estimation, principles of sound journalism aren’t a “privilege” held by the subject of a story. Either a reporter who is working on a potentially disruptive and controversial story is going to honor sound journalistic principles and seek a comment from the ultimate source, or the reporter isn’t.

At a minimum, we think that Mort should have explained in his initial report that he chose not to contact the Raiders because they’ve proven to be unreliable. (Or, perhaps more accurately, because Raiders owner Al Davis called Mortensen a “professional liar” during that epic September 30 press conference.)

Regarding the story itself, if Trask’s statement is accurate, our guess is that the Metropoulos group is working on the purchase of another team (such as the Jaguars), and that the group floated the story in order to develop leverage as to the “real” negotiations in which the group is engaged.

As Trask told the AP, Metropoulos and company have been trying for some time to buy a team. Whether it’s the Jaguars or someone else (such as the Vikings), we have a feeling that Metropoulos specifically targeted a team whose denials no one would believe in order to bolster any bluff that Metropoulos has a viable alternative.

That said, we wouldn’t be shocked if the Raiders ended up being for sale. But we would be very, very surprised. There’s never been any indication that Al Davis is interested in parting ways with the sports franchise from which Davis has derived for decades most if not all of his identity.

[SoCalRaider]

Moving to LA would seriously suck for the local fans who have suffered through so much losing the team before to get them back and then the delights of the last 6 years. :lowblow:

Not necessarily... Most people who follow the Raiders out here still consider the Raiders as our team. The last title the Raiders won was out here... and the only Super Bowl this city has ever won was with the Raiders....

The big victory for the locals is that the stadium is going to be 100% privately subsidized. Not that I give a shit... but apparently the average local thinks this is a big deal...

If you were to take a poll of the LA basin, the Raiders would still claim the simple majority of fans... though that percentage would come in at much less than 50%... probably around 20%.... From a pure numbers perspective, there a more Raider fans in LA than there are in Oakland... by simple virtue of the population size.... which is why moving back to Oakland was just one in many of the ultra stooopid moves the old dummy has made.... and I won't even get into the corporate and entertainment industry money that Davis left on the table....

[s.dot88]

fuck moving the team to LA; they already have the Trojans football, UCLA basketball, 2 NBA teams, 2 MLB team, 2 NHL teams and an MLS team...greedy fucks

[CrossBones]

I couldn't care less if the Raiders moved back to Los Angeles. It really doesn't matter. Al still thinks it's his territory and I believe there will be yet another law suit if the NFL puts a team other then the Raiders in Southern California.

You think a Raiders fan in Minnesota cares if they are the Oakland Raiders or the Los Angeles Raiders? New Jersey Raiders fan? Las Vegas (mass/Jack?).

Pfftg. If it means a new stadium and getting out of the dump they call the Coliseum I'm all for it. Put a little cheese in Al's pockets do do some things.

[fatdog]

I couldn't care less if the Raiders moved back to Los Angeles. It really doesn't matter. Al still thinks it's his territory and I believe there will be yet another law suit if the NFL puts a team other then the Raiders in Southern California.

You think a Raiders fan in Minnesota cares if they are the Oakland Raiders or the Los Angeles Raiders? New Jersey Raiders fan? Las Vegas (mass/Jack?).

Pfftg. If it means a new stadium and getting out of the dump they call the Coliseum I'm all for it. Put a little cheese in Al's pockets do do some things.

Personally I would like the Omaha Raiders, now that would up the old rivalry With KC and Denver and I could travel to see every home game no matter how shitty the team is.:pound:

[jatfly]

I couldn't care less if the Raiders moved back to Los Angeles. It really doesn't matter. Al still thinks it's his territory and I believe there will be yet another law suit if the NFL puts a team other then the Raiders in Southern California.

You think a Raiders fan in Minnesota cares if they are the Oakland Raiders or the Los Angeles Raiders? New Jersey Raiders fan? Las Vegas (mass/Jack?).

Pfftg. If it means a new stadium and getting out of the dump they call the Coliseum I'm all for it. Put a little cheese in Al's pockets do do some things.

Yeah I don't want the Raiders to move again, but I will follow them as long as the Name Raiders is used. That sounds stupid, but as long as it's the Raiders I don't care where they play....I would rather see them move to Vegas if anywhere. It would a great place to see a game......then again I would rather them just stay in Oakland~!

[Langlier]

I'd love me some LV Raiders... would give me an excuse to go to vegas... and to see my raiders

[Abelardo]

What about the Tijuana Raiders? The trip to SD would be shorter...

[massraider]

What about the Tijuana Raiders? The trip to SD would be shorter...

We'd have a major homefield advantage. Good luck trying to rush the passer with a brutal case of diarrhea, Shawn Merriman!!

[Abelardo]

:pound:

[BigTron]

the Delaware Raiders! The first state finally gets a team!