Raiders' Davis: All the other NFL owners think I'm poor

Buried deep in a fascinating piece on the economics of the "unstoppable" NFL by The New York Times' Mark Leibovich is an amusing nugget about Oakland Raiders owner Mark Davis.

Davis, whose attempts to relocate his franchise to Los Angeles were essentially dismissed without a second thought by the NFL's other 31 owners earlier this year, addressed his perceived status as the black sheep among an elite club of billionaires:

I found Mark Davis leaning against a couch and talking to a group of Raiders fans in the bar of the Westin late that night. He had changed into a powder ­blue sweatshirt and black-and-white sneakers and wore a relaxed air of resignation. I asked whether he was mad at Goodell. "Nah, I call Roger the pope," Davis told me. I wondered why. "I like to bust his chops." He is fully aware of his runt-of-the-litter standing within the Membership. "Everyone thinks I have no money," Davis said. "But I’ve got $500 million and a team."

Davis inherited the Raiders when his father, the legendary Al Davis, died in 2011. Since then, he's navigated an awkward relationship with the other owners and the league (Al had a thing for suing his business associates), and the worst stadium situation faced by any team.

The Raiders have threatened to move to Los Angeles, San Antonio, and, most recently, Las Vegas, but it's hard to miss the way the NFL and its owners have dismissed Davis' threats as toothless.