Raiders owner Mark Davis is doing it his way

OAKLAND, Calif. — Mark Davis, a lifelong bachelor, is not giving up on the idea of finding the one, even at 61. It remains one of the Oakland Raiders owner’s dreams.

“I stopped drinking about 20 years ago, and I’m not drinking again until the Raiders win the Super Bowl or I get married,” he said. “One will happen because I want to drink, and the other because I’ll have to.”

Davis laughed. It’s not the first time he has used that line.

“No one will have me,” he said of marriage. “I’ve been close twice. Once I said no, and once she said no.”

Davis has been the Raiders’ owner for five years and two months. He took over the team after his dad, Al Davis, a legendary NFL maverick, died Oct. 8, 2011 at 82.

Unlike marriage, Mark Davis has not come close to a Lombardi Trophy — until this year.

Finally, he can talk seriously about reaching the Super Bowl. The Raiders are 10-3 and pointed toward the playoffs for the first time in 14 years. But Davis has another dream, one that is very much within reach: a state-of-the-art stadium that allows his team to leave the decrepit Oakland-Alameda County Coliseum for Las Vegas.

Cliff Branch, a wide receiver on the Raiders’ three Super Bowl-winning teams in 1977, 1981 and 1984, was one of Al Davis’ favorite players. He also has been one of Mark’s closest friends for more than three decades.

Al Davis’ birthday was July 4, and in his later years, he always hosted a party in Las Vegas. He occasionally talked about moving the Raiders to the desert.

“Al loved Las Vegas,” Branch said. “He never thought it was possible, but he loved Las Vegas. He’s smiling from above.

“One thing about Mark Davis, he’s an honest guy and he believes in trustworthiness. When he gives his word about something, he’s totally committed.”

Davis has repeatedly said he’s “committed to Las Vegas,” and in many ways he runs the Raiders in honor of his father’s legacy.

“Al told him, ‘When I’m gone, you do it your way,’” Branch said. “Mark is doing it his way.”

REBUILDING THE RAIDERS

Al Davis played every important role for the Raiders as an in-your-face, omnipresent boss.

His son is different.

Mark Davis’ first major move was to hire Reggie McKenzie as general manager in January 2012. McKenzie, a 10th-round draft pick by Al Davis in 1985, was a Raiders linebacker for four years. After receiving recommendations from former Raiders coach John Madden and longtime NFL general manager Ron Wolf, Mark made McKenzie the first general manager of the franchise since Al was hired as head coach and general manager in 1963.

Oakland finished 8-8 in 2011 during the season of transition, followed by seasons of 4-12, 4-12 and 3-13. Davis said he and McKenzie set out on a “deconstruction” phase of the Raiders by shedding cumbersome contracts and a “reconstruction” phase to build a new roster.

“One of the things I learned from my father is I would rather be right than be consistent,” Davis said. “You have to get the right people in the right spots.”

McKenzie, regarded as a sharp talent evaluator, set the franchise’s course in the 2014 draft, when he selected linebacker Khalil Mack in the first round and quarterback Derek Carr in the second round. Mack and Carr are among the league’s elite players in their third seasons.

In January 2015, Davis and McKenzie hired Jack Del Rio, a Bay Area native and former NFL linebacker, as coach. After a 7-9 debut season in Oakland, the aggressive, willing-to-gamble Del Rio is instilling a winning attitude in a young team.

“There’s so much I like about Jack,” Davis said. “I think we have solidified the football side of the organization for the near term and the long-term future.”

One day after hiring Del Rio, Davis attended to the business side by naming Marc Badain team president. Badain, in his 26th year with the team, has been the Raiders’ point man in stadium financing negotiations in Las Vegas.

Davis sought a viable stadium plan in Oakland for eight years before he and Badain switched their focus to Las Vegas early this year. In October, the Nevada Legislature passed a financing plan for a 65,000-seat, $1.9 billion domed stadium. The bill signed by Gov. Brian Sandoval calls for $750 million in public funding from a Clark County hotel room tax increase, plus contributions of $650 million from the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson and $500 million from the Raiders.

Davis said he will apply for relocation to Las Vegas next month. If 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners approve the move, construction of the domed stadium could be complete by 2020.

“Mark is a visionary leader who’s done a really good job rebuilding the organization,” Badain said. “He should get a lot of credit, but he’s not looking for credit. He’s a lot more intelligent than people give him credit for. He’s very strategic. He knows a lot about the game of football and a lot about the business of the NFL.

“We knew we had a tough road ahead of us, and we knew we were in for a lot of pain. But Mark was patient, and now we’re seeing the results.”

FAMILY MATTERS

In the twilight of his career, Branch asked Mark Davis to serve as his agent and negotiate his final contract with Al Davis.

“He only represented one person, and he did a hell of a job. He was able to hammer out a deal with his dad and got me a lifetime contract with the Raiders,” Branch said. “Thanks to Mark, I have a great life.

“Mark was close with all the players. He still is like that today. He’s close with his team. Al was close with his team, but he was more business. Mark is more friendly.”

Carr said he appreciates Davis’ genuine approach with players.

“We all have a cool relationship with him,” Carr said. “He’s come up to Khalil and I with things regarding the team and asking our opinions, and we kind of sat back and said, ‘You’re the owner, you can do whatever you want.’ I’m thankful that I get to be his quarterback. I know our team loves him.”

But, Mark recalled, that side of him also concerned his dad.

“He said I was going to have a hard time running this team because I was too close to the players,” Mark said, “and that has actually come true in some cases.”

Al Davis is remembered as a renegade, but he was more than that, his only child explained. Mark grew up in the Bay Area in the 1960s, a time of social activism, and he recalled watching his dad refuse to allow the Raiders to stay in cities where black and white players were forced into separate hotels. He watched his dad do good deeds for former Raiders players and create a family environment in the organization.

In 1989, Al Davis made former Raiders lineman Art Shell the team’s head coach — and the first black head coach in the NFL’s modern era.

“He was doing things not to try to make a statement. He was doing things because he thought they were right,” Mark said. “I learned so much about compassion and doing things for people behind the scenes.”

Davis talks of bringing the Raiders’ “great extended family” to Las Vegas and assisting charities and schools.

HAIR-RAISING LIFESTYLE

Spending long days in the office is not Davis’ style. He often works from his home in Alamo in Contra Costa County, a 30-minute drive from the Raiders’ complex in Oakland. Most days begin with a stop at P.F. Chang’s in nearby Walnut Creek, where Davis has lunch and catches up on the news.

“I like reading the newspaper when I eat,” he said. “You wake up and never know what’s about to happen and what you’re going to have to deal with, so there is no daily routine.”

His net worth is reported to be at least $500 million, but he’s not a big spender. For the past several years, he drove around the Bay Area in a white 1997 Dodge Caravan.

“I just traded it in,” said Davis, who has six or seven cars and now primarily drives a black Mini Cooper. “I love cars. That is probably the only vice I’ve got.”

He has a second home in Palm Desert, California, and that’s where he catches a flight to get his famous haircut: a bowl cut across the forehead, straight out of the bell-bottom pants era. He’s well aware that his reddish blond hairstyle is widely mocked, but he’s not changing it. He hears the critics.

“All the time,” he said. “If people want to comment on my hair, they can comment on my hair.”

Davis is highly energetic and, some might say, eccentric. He’s a child of the ’60s whose favorite singer is Jimi Hendrix.

“I saw Hendrix at the Oakland Coliseum when I was 13 years old. I saw the Beatles at the Cow Palace (in San Francisco) when I was 8,” he said. “I thought it was great, man.”

Badain has a photo on his desk from an outing with Davis in the early 1990s at Pelican Hill Golf Club in Newport Beach, California. Davis had the same hair. Badain’s full head of hair has disappeared. Davis had to quit golf six years ago because of a right big toe injury. Now, he said, he’s the “designated putter” in tournaments.

“Does Mark fit the stereotype of a billionaire sports team owner?” asked Badain, whose grandfather coached Al Davis’ basketball team at Erasmus Hall High School in Brooklyn. “I don’t know what that stereotype is. As a fan or as an employee, we know he loves his team, he always will, and he’ll do whatever it takes to help us win. It’s his family’s legacy.”

LEAVING FOR LAS VEGAS?

It’s a Sunday afternoon, and Davis walks out of a tunnel at the Coliseum about an hour before the Raiders play the Buffalo Bills. Wearing sunglasses, a white jacket, jeans and blue sneakers, he stops to sign autographs for fans. He’s still popular. There are no catcalls from the crowd about his desire to move the team.

Davis’ cellphone number has Las Vegas’ 702 area code, which he got in the late 1990s, around the time he registered LasVegasRaiders.com. Strategic, indeed.

“It was just something that popped into my mind, something I thought might come in handy one day,” he said, laughing at the irony of the website domain name.

“A friend of mine lived in Las Vegas and that was one of the first places you could call nationally without roaming charges. When a lot of people have your number, it’s hard to change it.”

In his owner’s box, located near the goal line instead of the 50-yard line, Davis hosts Mickey Thomas from Jefferson Starship and former Raiders stars Fred Biletnikoff, Willie Brown, George Atkinson, Dave Casper and Branch.

“These guys are like his family,” said John Tournour, better known as JT the Brick, a national sports radio host who lives in Las Vegas and has a long working association with the Raiders. “They are with him all the time, and they trust each other. Mark has a small group of people that he trusts.”

Branch and Davis are as tight as brothers, and Branch separates business and sentimentality when the subject turns to the Raiders relocating from Oakland.

“It’s about getting a stadium for the Raiders,” Branch said. “When they came up with Las Vegas, Mark pushed it really hard to see if something can get done. Mark is excited about it. I think it’s going to go. I’m excited about it, too.”

The crowd in Davis’ box celebrates as the Raiders rally from a 24-9 deficit to defeat the Bills 38-24.

“Look where the Raiders are now,” Branch said. “Mark lets people do their job. It’s a wonderful thing.”

The love of Davis’ life is the Raiders. He is asked what will happen first, a Super Bowl win or his wedding.

“That’s the over/under,” he said. “That’s for the oddsmakers in Las Vegas.”

The Review-Journal is owned by the family of Las Vegas Sands Corp. Chairman and CEO Sheldon Adelson.

Contact reporter Matt Youmans at myoumans@reviewjournal.com or 702-387-2907. Follow on Twitter: @mattyoumans247.