The Las Vegas Raiders parted ways with team president Dan Ventrelle on Friday, posting a brief statement on social media saying that he was gone and that they would have no further comment at this time. Later Friday, Ventrelle gave his side of the story.
Ventrelle told the Las Vegas Review-Journal that he was fired in response to his reporting to the NFL that team owner Mark Davis was ignoring concerns about a hostile work environment. Ventrelle said he confronted Davis about these issues, but when Davis did not respond, he went to the NFL. He texted this statement to the Review-Journal on Friday:
“Today, Mark Davis terminated my employment as President of the Las Vegas Raiders. I have committed almost 18 years of my life to the success of the Raiders as General Counsel and President. I take that responsibility very seriously, which is why multiple written complaints from employees that Mark created a hostile work environment and engaged in other potential misconduct caused me grave concern. When Mark was confronted about these issues, he was dismissive and did not demonstrate the warranted level of concern. Given this, I informed the NFL of these issues and of Mark’s unacceptable response. Soon thereafter, I was fired in retaliation for raising these concerns. I firmly stand by my decision to elevate these issues to protect the organization and its female employees. I remain committed to doing everything in my power to support the Raiders and the Las Vegas community I now call home. I have retained counsel and will have no further comment at this time.”
League spokesman Brian McCarthy released a statement via ESPN, saying that the NFL, “recently became aware of these allegations and take them very seriously. We will promptly look into the matter.”
Ventrelle served as the Raiders president for less than one year, as he replaced Marc Badain last July. When the Review-Journal reached out to Davis for comment about the allegations, he offered none, but did respond with pointed remarks towards Ventrelle.
“I’ve heard about (Ventrelle’s) statement, but I won’t comment on it,” Davis said. “The only thing I want made clear is that Dan Ventrelle was never president of the Raiders. He has always been the interim president. He was never named president.The interim was always a temporary designation to determine whether he would be the (full-time) president or not. I want that clear — he is not the president of the Las Vegas Raiders. Never was. I think there’s a misconception about that.”
