As Tom Brady continues to pursue a partial purchase of the Las Vegas Raiders from owner Mark Davis, credit Jim Gray with jumpstarting the negotiations.
Last year, former CEO of the Raiders, Amy Trask revealed Gray has served as a “primary adviser” to the team’s owner Mark Davis. Gray is also a long-time media confidant to Brady and co-host of their Let’s Go podcast. And on the latest episode of What the Football with Suzy Shuster and Amy Trask, the former Raiders CEO explained how Gray helped broker an ownership deal for Brady.
“Jim Gray facilitated the relationship between Tom Brady and Mark Davis,” Trask said. “I’m certain Mark knew Tom before then, maybe facilitated isn’t the right word. He has joined the two of them or united them, both with respect to the Aces and now potentially with respect to the Raiders.”
Trask proceeded to note that during her tenure as CEO of the Raiders, she sold off an interest of the franchise to then-owner Al Davis. That sale presumably occurred in 2007, when the NFL approved the Raiders selling a 20 percent minority interest to a small group of investors. According to Trask, Gray wanted to broker that deal to a different investor.
“Jim approached us at the time and wanted to broker a deal for someone” Trask explained. “And I had to explain to him why that was not going to be a match for the Raiders and it angered Jim a lot. He wanted to broker that deal. And now he has an opportunity to do that with respect to Tom and Mark.”
You can certainly connect the dots to see how Jim Gray brokering an ownership deal between Tom Brady and Mark Davis happened. But it’s still strange.
Brady’s ownership deal with the Raiders has not been finalized, but it’s moving in that direction. Concerns remain around Brady having a stake in the Raiders, while also serving as a broadcaster with Fox which grants him special access to teams’ practice and training facilities. Commissioner Roger Goodell claims the potential conflict of interest has been addressed, although he offered no specifics on how those concerns were resolved. Perhaps only Jim Gray knows.
