Raiders back off on Gannon banning

The Oakland Raiders have backed off on a demand that Rich Gannon be banned from their facility and the broadcast booth for this Sunday's game against the Broncos.

The following is from an AP report.

The Raiders initially told the network that Gannon was not welcome at production meetings for Sunday's game against Denver because of constant criticism of the organization in recent years. Senior executive John Herrera said later Friday that "because of league rules, we have relented."

Gannon was the NFL's MVP in 2002 for the Raiders, leading them to the Super Bowl. He threw five interceptions in a 48-21 loss to Tampa Bay. This is Gannon's fifth season as an announcer with CBS.

The story was first reported by the San Francisco Chronicle.

Gannon has been a vocal critic of the Raiders' organization over the last few years and as recently as last week had offered a critique of current Raiders QB Jamarcus Russell. Never one to pull punches, it's not a surprise that Gannon's comments have ruffled a few feathers inside the team's Alameda facility.

It will be interesting to see how much impact all of this has on Gannon's commentary this weekend. More likely than not, he'll call the game straight down the middle as he has in past Raider games that he has covered but the possibility of some kind of response to the team's attempted action against him is going to be there.

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