Former 49ers Owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. Interested In Joining Raiders’ Ownership Group

Update:

Raiders owner Mark Davis refuted the report that former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. is in talks to become a minority owner.

“It’s not true,” Davis said, per Tim Kawakami.

Davis did, however, mention that he’s open to a minority investor being added at some point who could help build a new stadium, and talks will continue, per Kawakami.

According to Davis, the Raiders are still on “parallel tracks” with the Carson and Oakland stadium efforts, per Kawakami. Although, Davis did say that the Carson project is moving quickly.

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According to Jason La Canfora of CBS Sports, former 49ers owner Eddie DeBartolo Jr. has been in talks with Raiders owner Mark Davis about joining the team’s ownership group.

La Canfora mentions that Davis and the Raiders are looking to bolster the franchise’s front office ahead of a potential move to Los Angeles.

As of now, an agreement between Davis and DeBartolo is not considered imminent at this point in time, and the former 49ers’ owner would consider other opportunities with NFL teams. Even so, La Canfora points out that add him to the Raiders’ front office would boost their prospects of relocating to Carson, Calif.

The Raiders have reportedly been actively seeking additional minority partners to join their group in order to inject additional capital into his franchise and bolster their experience in stadium development.

Davis is said to be looking to add at least one more outisde partner over the next few weeks ahead of the Dec. 2 owners meeting in Dallas. However, his reluctance to yield controlling interest in the Raiders has made it very difficult to complete a deal.

Earlier in the day, La Canfora reported that Disney CEO Bob Iger, who is now the chairman of the Chargers’ and Raiders’ project to build a stadium in Carson, will have an opportunity to purchase a minority share of either franchise once his contract with Disney is up.

However, this would require the Carson project to get the necessary votes from NFL owners (24 is the required number of votes) and start the building process. Sources have told La Canfora that with Iger joining the project this late, he must have a strong sense that there is adequate support for the project.

Interestingly enough, La Canfora mentions that the longer the process is delayed, the more there’s a chance that any team relocating to Los Angeles may not happen until 2017.

According to La Canfora, the Carson project has several key owners in their corner.

We’ll have more regarding changes involving the Raiders as the news is available.