AP

49ers CEO Jed York may not be holding himself accountable, but the end result would be the same.

Scott Ostler of the San Francisco Chronicle, in a lengthy column regarding the state of the 49ers, speculates that the team could be sold by the York family.

Ostler pegs Larry Ellison as the potential purchaser. The former Oracle CEO, with an estimated net worth of $47.7 billion, tried in vain to purchase the NBA’s Golden State Warriors. Per Ostler, Ellison once had interest in buying the 49ers, but he was given “a gentle no, with the door left ajar.”

Ostler also wonders aloud whether the Yorks would in lieu of a sale completely restructure the team, with a football czar (Mike Holmgren’s name is mentioned) running the operation and Jed York phased out of the day-to-day grind.

However it plays out, the demotion of former team president Paraag Marathe is being viewed not as the last step but as the first in an effort to turn the franchise around. Those changes could include less, not more, Jed York.