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According to ESPN’s Adam Schefter, the Oakland Raiders are ready to make a big move in an attempt to lure Jon Gruden away from the Monday Night Football booth.
Via ESPN
The Oakland Raiders are preparing to pursue ESPN analyst Jon Gruden with an offer so strong it could even include an ownership stake in the teams, according to league sources.
Gruden will be tempted to accept it, according to sources, but would prefer not to make any decisions until the regular season finishes Sunday and the Raiders make a final determination on their current head coach, Jack Del Rio, who signed a contract extension last summer.
Unfortunately for Gruden if he does indeed get offered an ownership stake in the team his contract would have get approved by NFL owners.
Raiders owner Mark Davis has offered Gruden an ownership stake in the past, according to sources, and if Davis were willing to do so again, the contract then would have to be approved by all 32 NFL owners.
An ownership source said owners might not be so quick to approve the deal, because they wouldn’t want to establish a precedent. The NFL’s finance committee also would have to vet Gruden, and it would be that body, along with input from several owners, that would be responsible for raising an objection to an ownership clause.
I still doubt all of this would get Gruden to leave his super cushy job at ESPN but who knows.