Greg Papa restores relationship with Mark Davis, Raiders amid cancer fight

Greg Papa said he reread a message from Las Vegas Raiders owner Mark Davis on his iPhone Wednesday morning, noting the note is more than a year old but still capable of bringing tears to his eyes. “It’s been the astir hard situation of my beingness personally, without question,” Papa said by telephone from the Bay Area Wednesday afternoon. “But astatine the precise apical of the bully things to travel retired of it, my narration with the Raiders and Mark Davis has been restored.” Papa, who spent 21 years as the voice of the Oakland Raiders from 1997 to 2018 before becoming the San Francisco 49ers’ broadcaster, hopes to return to the 49ers booth early this NFL season after missing all but one broadcast last year. He noted the Raiders’ preseason opener against Las Vegas at Allegiant Stadium is set for Thursday. His relationship with Davis soured toward the end of his Raiders tenure, but Papa said Mark reached out after learning of Papa’s acute lymphoblastic leukemia diagnosis, which was made public Aug. 1, 2025. Mark sent a text inviting Papa to light Allegiant Stadium’s Al Davis Memorial Torch whenever he feels ready. “We’ve been capable to beyond spot things up,” Papa said, his baritone warm and optimistic. “We’re backmost connected coagulated crushed with them, and I bash precise overmuch look guardant to the time erstwhile I tin spell backmost determination and airy that torch successful his honor.” Raised in Buffalo, New York, and a Syracuse graduate, Papa is 63 years old. Before joining the Raiders he called games for the Golden State Warriors and the Oakland Athletics. He credited the late Al Davis and former executive Bruce Allen as his fiercest advocates in achieving his lifelong goal of announcing NFL games. His bond with Al Davis, who died in 2011, remains profound. “It truly is family,” Papa said. “It’s conscionable different. And the aged — determination are 31 teams successful the NFL, and past determination are the Raiders … that is truthful true. And I anticipation that’s inactive the case. … They were family. They were Al. It