The Las Vegas Raiders hired Sandra Douglass Morgan, the previous chairwoman of the Nevada Gaming Management Board, because the crew’s new president on Thursday. She is the primary Black girl to carry the place for an N.F.L. franchise.
Morgan fills a task that was vacated twice prior to now 12 months amid entrance workplace upheaval and allegations of economic mismanagement and office dysfunction inside the Raiders group. She joins the Raiders 9 months after the departure of Coach Jon Gruden, who resigned in October 2021 after The New York Instances detailed emails wherein he made misogynistic and homophobic feedback earlier than beginning his second stint with the crew.
Morgan sits on the boards for Caesars Leisure and Allegiant Journey, the mother or father firm of the airline that has the naming rights to the Raiders’ stadium, and final 12 months was named the vice chair of Las Vegas’ host committee for Tremendous Bowl LVIII, which is scheduled for February 2024.
“I’m thrilled that Sandra has agreed to affix the Raiders household,” Mark Davis, the crew’s proprietor, stated in an announcement. “Her expertise, integrity and keenness for this neighborhood will probably be invaluable to our group.”
For the reason that Raiders moved to Las Vegas from Oakland, Calif., in 2020, six of the crew’s eight high executives give up or have been fired with little clarification. Marc Badain resigned as crew president in July 2021, and his interim substitute, Dan Ventrelle, was fired in Could. Ventrelle later accused Davis, whose household has run the crew for greater than 50 years, of making a hostile work surroundings.
Morgan stated she was “honored and humbled” when Davis approached her concerning the place, however that she additionally had numerous questions for him.
“It’s no secret this group has confronted some current challenges,” she stated throughout a short information convention at Allegiant Stadium on Thursday. “However I need to be clear: I’m not right here to brush something beneath the rug or keep away from issues or issues that must be addressed.”
Morgan didn’t share particular particulars about how she deliberate to deal with the accusations of office points introduced by former crew staff, together with monetary irregularities and the mistreatment of some employees. In 2021, Nicole Adams, who labored within the crew’s human sources division for nearly 5 years, filed a grievance towards the Raiders with the Nevada Equal Rights Fee, accusing the crew of discriminating towards her as a result of she is Black and retaliating towards her after she raised issues about pay disparities and unequal therapy.
Morgan stated that her high precedence was to satisfy with each crew worker, “ensuring that our Raider household is robust.” She added that Davis had made numerous modifications “deliberately” over the previous six months.
Below the course of Al Davis, Mark’s father, the Raiders franchise broke various demographic boundaries in soccer. Tom Flores, the primary Latino head coach to win a Tremendous Bowl, gained two titles with the crew within the 1980 and 1983 seasons. In 1989, the crew employed Artwork Shell, the primary Black head coach within the trendy N.F.L., and in 1997 Davis named Amy Trask the crew’s chief govt, the primary girl in league historical past to carry the title. Raiders defensive finish Carl Nassib grew to become the primary overtly homosexual N.F.L. participant on an energetic roster in 2021.
Trask, who had labored for the Raiders for nearly 30 years when she resigned in 2013, famous that Morgan’s hiring carries that means as “one other first by a company with so many of those firsts.” Trask additionally emphasised the importance of the function Morgan will tackle because of the crew’s current upheaval.
“It’s an vital determination for any variety of causes, together with however not restricted to stabilizing that place, stabilizing that group,” Trask stated. “The president of the group is in a management function, and that issues. Whenever you speak concerning the innumerable factors of instability, it’s the job of a frontrunner to move the group in the suitable course.”
Whereas she didn’t come up by means of the N.F.L. ranks, Morgan pointed to her expertise with massive companies and dealing within the sports activities, leisure and gaming industries, together with a stint with the Nevada State Athletic Fee. She was raised within the Las Vegas space the place she served as metropolis legal professional and, extra just lately, as a part of the state’s Covid-19 activity drive.
