Former Las Vegas Raiders team president Dan Ventrelle was let go by Raiders owner Mark Davis said he was fired for reporting Davis and the Raiders to the NFL for a hostile work environment that Davis showed little concern for regarding the complaint. (file photo from The Legal 500)
By Rich Perez
LAS VEGAS–On Friday Las Vegas owner Mark Davis had announced that team President Dan Ventrelle had left the Raiders and that Davis did not give a reason for the departure. Ventrelle was a little more vocal than the Davis’ statement saying he was no longer with the organization because he raised “hostile work environment” issues at the Raiders to the attention of the NFL.
Ventrelle had received complaints from employees about a hostile work environment at the Raiders and when the employees came back to Ventrelle again and again with complaints Ventrelle tried to get those issues to the attention of Davis who what Ventrelle told the Las Vegas Review-Journal “he was dismissive and did not demonstrate the warranted level of concern.”
Ventrelle had no other choice but to give it to the attention of the NFL offices saying, “Given, this, I informed the NFL of these issues and of Mark’s unacceptable response. Soon thereafter, I was fired in retaliation for raising those concerns. I firmly stand by my decision to elevate these issues to protect the organization and it’s female employees.”
Ventrelle was trying to protect the Raiders from any legal trouble and this was the same season (2021) where former Raiders head coach Jon Gruden has been fired for racial slurs, homophobic, and misogynistic slurs found on emails that Gruden had sent to former Washington Commanders president Bruce Allen.
When the story broke Davis had no choice but to let Gruden go. Gruden has since filed a lawsuit against the NFL saying the NFL forced him out at the Raiders. Ventrelle said he was trying to do the right thing by getting harassment in the work place under control and NFL spokeman Brian McCarthy said he is aware of the allegations and assures that the NFL will investigate.
Over the past year the Raiders have seen high level executives leave the team, Chief Financial Officer Ed Villanueva and controller Araxie Grant left with former team businessman Brian Badain. That’s a lot of top brass leaving all at the same time which Davis saying the reasons were “accounting irregularities.”
Rich Perez is a Las Vegas Raiders beat writer at http://www.sportsradioservice.com
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