“Aside from my will to win, my commitment to excellence, the fire that burns brightest in me is the great love and enthusiasm that I have and had for the game of football and for everyone and everything connected with it. I love the game; I love the league; I love my team."
The great Al Davis once said that about his beloved Raiders. Even though the team hasn't enjoyed much or any success since he passed away in 2011, his ethos as an owner was passed down to his son, Mark, who is admittedly a better businessman than a football guru.
But at least he's got his father's heart and mind.
While Mark Davis may not be Al in the sense that he's not some larger-than-life figure who battled with the NFL at every turn, he is still a barrier-breaking owner who clearly cares more about the Raiders and their interests than what the other owners or the powers that be in the league want.
It is no surprise, then, that in the latest NFL debate about installing grass or turf fields, Davis is not going to make things easy for those other owners or those powers that be in the league. He's doing his best Al impression by sticking up for the Raiders and the players, no matter what.
Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis will be thorn in NFL's side about grass vs turf debate
A.J. Perez of the LA Times recently wrote a column about FIFA's ability to put grass fields in American professional football stadiums for the 2026 World Cup, but yet the NFL can't accomplish the same thing, despite pushes from the NFLPA and notable individual players calling out the league.
The argument is simple: Turf fields aren't safe. They lead to more injuries with cleats getting caught in the artificial blades, the surface is much harder and less forgiving to land on, and they don't keep the temperature on the field as cool as grass does. It's a pretty cut-and-dry, holeless argument.
To owners, the argument comes down to dollars and cents. It is cheaper to have turf in stadiums because they require less maintenance, which means that the owner doesn't have to pay as much to take care of it or pay someone to do so. It's a lazy, short-sided and selfish way of looking at things.
Perez included this bit about Davis's view on things:
"Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis long ago took a side in the fight.
“I just always felt that football should be played on grass,” Davis said. “That’s for safety purposes, No. 1. I want it to look like a game was played, even if it’s an indoor field. You see grass stains and everything else. I wasn’t going to a stadium without it being grass once I knew that capability was there. Obviously, it added a lot of cost, but it’s worth it.”
As Pro Football Talk's Mike Florio noted, Davis won't cheap out or cut any corners to line his pockets. Davis has the Silver and Black playing on grass in Allegiant Stadium because it is what his players want. It is as simple as that. And Florio isn't quick to praise anything Raiders, so this means a lot.
The NFL owners have a bit of a reputation for being a "Boys club" and helping each other out, even at the detriment of their own team, to enrich themselves beyond belief. This becomes a bit ridiculous when one recognizes that the median owner is worth about $5 billion. They're not hurting for cash.
So, Davis may ruffle some feathers the next time the owners all get together. Al wouldn't have cared about that; in fact, he would have embraced it (and if you don't believe me, read Amy Trask's book about herself and all the shenanigans she and Davis went through with the league offices).
If it meant the best for the Silver and Black, Al would have done it, and Mark is proving that he'll do the same. It stands to reason that he'll fight for grass in every stadium because playing roughly half of their games on turf isn't exactly safe for Davis' players, either. All it takes is one ill-fated play.
Mark Davis already forked up the cash to protect his players and give them a world-class facility and stadium. Other owners cheap out at every turn, and that is documented annually in the NFLPA Report Card. Davis gets praised, win or lose, while other owners get trashed, even when their team wins.
It would be a miracle if Davis had enough pull to get the league's billionaire proprietors to install grass in every NFL stadium, so I wouldn't count on that. But I'd count on him using whatever voice he has to make things safer and better for his cherished Raiders, just as Al would have.
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