L.A. Benched / Week 11 : Davis Has Tried Oil; How About Football?

Marvin Davis has earned a reputation as a shrewd dealmaker, accumulating a net worth estimated by Forbes magazine at about $2 billion through oil, entertainment, real estate and stock investments.

But he has never been a sports mogul, although it hasn’t been for lack of trying.

Davis, 70, in the past has explored purchases of such NFL teams as the Rams, the Denver Broncos and the Dallas Cowboys, but never bought one.

Still, Davis and his son, John, a film producer (“The Firm,” “Waterworld”) who works closely with his father on deals, remain keenly interested in a possible L.A. franchise and they clearly are among the handful of players with pockets deep enough to make it happen.

Davis built his fortune as a Denver oilman, although his highest-profile investment was his ownership of the Twentieth Century Fox film studio with fugitive oil trader Marc Rich.