Greg Papa Fired By Oakland Raiders? Brent Musberger hired by Raiders now new unconfirmed rumor update!
Maybe this crazy tweet was right on after all…
Greg Papa will no longer be announcing Raiders games… heard it here first lol
— TLK510 (@TLK510) July 9, 2018
I received several out-of-the-blue texts from someone who’s in a good position to know this could happen. So, this post is exploratory, and will be updated. Given the texts and the tweets and news, it’s clear to me that Greg Papa is certainly the focus of something going on.
Greg Papa has been the voice of the Oakland Raiders since 1997, and a broadcaster for the Oakland Raiders, Oakland Athletics, Golden State Warriors and San Francisco Giants in the San Francisco Bay Area. The man known for his signature “TOUCHDOWNNNNN RAIEEEDDDARS!!! yell when the team scored six managed to become known as the “Bill King” of his generation of Raiders fans.
Still, with the Raiders move to Las Vegas under production, and the build of the new stadium there in full swing, the question of who would call the games for the team in Sin City was starting to become a topic of conversation. Perhaps local SF Bay Area Columnist Tim Kawakami, now of the Athletic, was on to something when, on May 17th, he tweeted this…
I get that these guys are praying that they're hired by the 49ers. Sometimes they hide it better than other times.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) May 17, 2018
And the news was all over that Papa was interested in taking his voice act over to Levi’s Stadium. Trouble is, Papa himself never confirmed that, and why should he? At the time, he was the Oakland Raiders voice. But that was May and this is now, and my well-placed source remarked that Papa was not the favorite of the guy at the top of the Raiders food chain. That would be Mark Davis. My response was “If that’s the case, why would Papa last since Davis took control in late 2011? This is 2018? “Well,” came back the text, “something happened. I’m waiting for confirmation.”
So are we all. I personally liked Papa, even though I’ve not had occasion to sit and talk with him of late. We’ve ran into each other at the Super Bowl, and that was a fun encounter. So, I hope the best for him. Would be nice to see him remain as the voice of the Oakland Raiders.
UPDATE: And another very-well-placed friend just texted that Papa was “not interested in moving to Las Vegas” with the Raiders. But so far, no official confirmation from anyone that Papa was fired – but a lot of talk that it may have happened. There’s smoke – no fire. Yet.
Stay tuned.