‘It’s very strange’: Why former Raiders radio voice Greg Papa has awkward task for Super Bowl

Greg Papa has one of the most recognizable voices in the history of Northern California sports. He became an icon during his 21 years as the radio play-by-play announcer for the Oakland Raiders, providing the soundtrack for one of the most passionate and spirited fan bases in the country.

Which is why this week is an awkward one for him. Papa is in Las Vegas, Nevada, the new home of the Raiders, where he will call Super Bowl LVIII as an employee of their former regional rival, the San Francisco 49ers. Those tuning in the radio in Sacramento will be able to hear him. Home base is KNBR 104.5 FM and 680 AM.

“It’s very strange,” Papa said in a phone interview from Las Vegas this week.

Raiders rivals invade

Papa acknowledged a harsh reality facing Raiders fans and the organization this week ahead of Super Bowl Sunday. The match-up between the 49ers and bitter rival Kansas City Chiefs inside the Raiders’ palatial desert dome, Allegiant Stadium, would not have made the organization’s late Hall of Fame owner Al Davis very happy.

“This would be Al Davis’ worst nightmare,” Papa said. “I’m sure it’s not Mark Davis’ favorite. But I’m sure their thought is, ‘the Niners have the Super Bowl in Super Bowl 60 and they’ll go play in their stadium.’”

Worse yet, the hated Chiefs are practicing at the Raiders new facility and will use their home locker room on Sunday. Both decisions were predetermined for whichever team represented the AFC in Sunday’s game. The 49ers, meanwhile, adopted the “Faithful to the Bay” tagline in 2020, the same year the Raiders began playing in Vegas.

Some considered it a subtle jab at the Raiders for leaving the Bay Area, a claim the 49ers refuted.

Papa’s split with the Raiders

The once-solid relationship between Papa and the Raiders did not end amicably. He was let go by the team in 2018, three years after he was critical of the club on his Bay Area radio show for interviewing Mike Shanahan for the team’s head coaching vacancy in 2015. Shanahan was considered a long-time enemy of Al Davis, who passed away in 2011 at 82.

“With Al, it was personal. It was everything,” Papa said. “... After a while, I just went off. I said Mike Shanahan can coach 31 teams in the NFL. He cannot coach Al Davis’ Raiders. And to even bring him in the building for a meeting, Al better be dead. He didn’t get buried. He’s in a mausoleum next to John Lee Hooker. But you don’t want him coming back to life. If he knows about that, heaven help you.”

Papa was a long-time confidant of Davis, who thought highly enough of Papa to consider him for the general manager job after senior executive Bruce Allen left the Raiders in 2003 — and later asked him to write his autobiography. Papa said he conducted long interviews of Davis, but he never gave the full backstory of his disdain for Shanahan, who alleged Davis owed him a $250,000 bonus after Shanahan was fired as Raiders coach in 1988.

And when the 49ers hired Shanahan to be their offensive coordinator in 1992, it ended Davis’ relationship with former executive Carmen Policy and the 49ers, Papa added.

Papa considered Davis a father figure. They would talk regularly in person and over the phone — but only on a land line, Papa said, because there was no talking to Davis on a cell. They discussed everything from Syracuse, where they were both alums, to catching prospects on the Montreal Expos and to all things football.

Papa said he doesn’t hold grudges. But Davis did. Out of principle and on the strength of their relationship, Papa wouldn’t stand for one of Davis’ arch enemies taking over the Raiders. So Mark Davis wound up replacing Papa with Bret Musburger three years after the fact.

Cold reception in Raider Nation

Papa said he wasn’t welcomed back by the Raiders when the 49ers traveled to their Las Vegas facility for joint practices in training camp last August. Papa wasn’t given the same access broadcasters get with the freedom to roam the field and talk with coaches and staffers. Instead, Papa was confined to a corner of the facility with the print media far away from the action.

“There’s definitely a directive from the highest level of the organization, that being the owner, whether it’s limiting my access or not playing any of my calls,” Papa said.

“They have the line, ‘Once a Raider, always a Raider,’ but it doesn’t apply to me.”

The Raiders did not respond when reached for comment for this story. Mark Davis’ only public words on Papa’s dismissal came in July 2019 when he released a grammatically creative statement:

“The Raiders organization would like to thank Greg Papa for his two decades of service to the Silver and Black.. He wasn’t just given the job.. He earned it.. With intense preparation Greg was always ready for the call.. Just as my generation remembers Bill King and “Holy Toledo”.. The Raider Nation will remember Greg Papa and “Touchdown Raiders”.. We wish Greg and his family the best in whatever the future brings..”

Papa said, “If the Raiders wanted to reach out to me and repair the relationship, I’d be all for it.”

Papa felt need to defend Davis

Papa connected with members of the organization this week during his time in Vegas amid hosting his radio show for KNBR 680 on radio row and getting ready to call Sunday’s action. He has two hotel rooms, one with the team roughly 45 minutes off the strip at the Hilton Lake resort and another at the Luxor, where much of the media is stationed.

Revisiting the idea of grudges, Papa these days works closely with Mike Shanahan’s son, Kyle, and often sees Mike around the 49ers’ facility.

And despite not being OK with Mike Shanahan being interviewed for the Raiders job back in 2015, the two have gotten along fine since Papa began working with his son’s team. To Papa, it was never personal.

Papa recounted a story of his first training camp practice with the 49ers in 2019. One of the first people he saw on the field was Mike Shanahan, whom he approached and began a conversation with. Papa said Shanahan was always one of the best offensive minds in the NFL, and Shanahan went on to be a guest on Papa’s radio show.

Papa’s unwillingness to stand for the Raiders interviewing him for their coaching job in 2015 was all about his connection to Davis.

“I felt like I needed to defend him,” Papa said. “There was no one else left to defend him and I was going to be that person. His son and his widow were not going to defend him, and I was. I just felt like that’s what he would have wanted me to do.”

It’s an odd twist. Papa defending the Raiders patriarch has left him feeling alienated from the organization — and is ultimately why he’ll be calling Sunday’s Super Bowl for the 49ers in the new home of Raider Nation, as an outsider.