PHOENIX - One of the busier Annual League Meetings in recent memory was winding to a close Tuesday afternoon and you could almost hear Mark Davis exhale.

Almost.

The Raiders owner had just left a meeting at the Arizona Biltmore Resort in which the team's succession plan had been approved, a day after Las Vegas was awarded Super Bowl LXIII.

A breath of fresh air? More like a matter-of-fact procedural inhale.

"Well, Egon Durban bought 7 percent of the team and he has an option to purchase the controlling interest of the team should I decide to sell," Davis told me of the current Raiders minority owner.

I asked what the sale meant for the state of the franchise today.

"Nothing," Davis said. "Absolutely everything runs exactly the way it's been."

Make sense? It should.

Local sportscaster Kevin Bolinger of Fox5 Vegas asked Davis if the NFL "likes" for teams to have succession plans.

"The NFL forces you to have a succession plan," Davis said. "And up until [five] months ago, my mom and I were both alive and my mom passed away."

Carol Davis passed away on Oct. 24, at the age of 93.

"I don't have any children or a wife at this time," Mark Davis added, "and so it was prudent to put together a succession plan that would make sure that there were no issues, should something happen to me or should I decide…"

Davis also spoke of the Super Bowl returning to Las Vegas in 2029, five years after the Raiders played host to Super Bowl LVIII.

In a 25-month stretch, from January 2027 through February 2029, Las Vegas will play host to the College Football National Championship, the Final Four in April 2028, Major League Baseball arriving with the A's within weeks of the Final Four, potentially an NBA expansion team in the fall of '28 and the Super Bowl.

The Raiders were at the forefront of pro sports coming to Southern Nevada.

As such, Davis again said he was grateful for the opportunity to play host to the NFL's signature event.

"Truly excited about that," he said. "That was a relationship that was with the Raiders, the National Football League, and the Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority, working together as one. Super Bowl LVIII, I think we knocked it out of the park. We re-set the bar for what it means to host the Super Bowl and I told them that we promised to raise the bar in Super Bowl LXIII."

The Raiders have also had an eventful offseason when it comes to the roster, with General Manager John Spytek having signed a bevy of free agents. Among them: center Tyler Linderbaum, linebackers Nakobe Dean and Quay Walker, edge rusher Kwity Paye, receivers Jalen Nailor and Dareke Young, and fullback Connor Heyward.

The Raiders, who also acquired cornerback Taron Johnson from the Bills in a trade, re-signed defensive end Malcolm Koonce, cornerback Eric Stokes and defensive tackle Thomas Booker IV, and hold the No. 1 pick in the draft.

And, oh yeah, they have a new, first-time head coach in Klint Kubiak.

"Well, I'm really impressed with the way John and Klint are working together, along with John's staff and the coaching staff," Davis said. "Having the first pick in the draft is exciting because we kind of control the draft - we get to make the decision on who we're gonna pick.

"But we've had that position before, and it didn't work out. So there's no magic bullet there, but it's a great opportunity to get a great player, whoever they decide to pick."

The elephant, er, Condor in the room, of course, is Maxx Crosby. Especially after the short-circuited trade of the five-time Pro Bowler to Baltimore ended with him back in Las Vegas.

Told he "lost" Crosby for three days, Davis laughed.

"Yeah, I was looking all over for him," he said. "I couldn't find him."

Asked if he could see a scenario in which Crosby still leaves the Raiders this year, Davis shrugged.

"I would say you should talk to John and Maxx and Klint," Davis said.

"As I said, I never wanted Maxx to leave, so I'm glad that he's back and I'm glad that we got Tyler Linderbaum. So I think we got out of that pretty well."

Davis then took a deep breath. After all, it was time for another meeting.