The Seattle Seahawks have headed down to San Francisco to prepare for Sunday’s Super Bowl against the New England Patriots. Forgive us if visions of deep passes have given way to talk of deep pockets as reports keep emerging about a potential sale of the team.
The latest news comes from The Wall Street Journal, which reported Sunday that the NFL and some team owners have run out of patience with the Seahawks’ ownership structure and pressure is being applied to force a sale.
This follows ESPN’s report last Friday citing sources who said the team would seek a buyer after Super Bowl LX.
The Allen estate and Jody Allen, the sister of late Seahawks owner and Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, denied the reports and said the focus was on winning a championship. But the time will come when the team will go up for sale, as mandated by Paul Allen’s estate wishes.
With a price tag expected to be in the $8 billion range, any prospective Seahawks sale is destined to be a record breaker. The Washington Commanders sold in 2023 for a then-record $6.05 billion.
So here’s a line-up of some very wealthy techies and others with Seattle ties:
- Former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer, with a net worth of $134.6 billion, is a sports friendly contender. He already owns the NBA’s Los Angeles Clippers. Does he have any desire for another franchise?
- Amazon founder Jeff Bezos has long been floated as a potential buyer. But Bezos, worth $253.2 billion, left for sunny South Florida a few years ago and seems to more interested in super yachts and spacecraft.
- Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates is worth about $105 billion and could do his late friend Paul Allen a nice solid by scooping up the Seahawks for pocket change.
- Current Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella has a net worth of $1 billion, so he’d need some help. But he does have a passion for sports with stakes in the Seattle Sounders FC and the Seattle Orcas.
- Author and philanthropist MacKenzie Scott has shown how keen she is to spend her billions, even though her charitable givings are directed more toward nonprofits. But at least she still lives in the Seattle area.
- Melinda French Gates is worth $29 billion and could team with Scott to form another powerful women-led ownership group on the heels of Jody Allen’s stewardship.
- Zillow co-founder Rich Barton has $1 billion to throw into an ownership group, too. That’ll barely buy a house in Seattle, but it could get a stake in the Seahawks.
- Cellular pioneer Craig McCaw is worth about $2 billion. Work the phones, Craig, you’re gonna need more money.
- Seattle Mariners majority owner John Stanton is another wireless industry pioneer, worth about $2.4 billion. Maybe he’s feeling the sting of watching the Seahawks get back to the Super Bowl after the M’s came thisclose to their first World Series trip last fall.
- Valve co-founder and CEO Gabe Newell is worth about $11 billion. His video game company found success with “Half-Life.” Would he want to be half-rich?
- Tanium co-founder and CEO Orion Hindawi is relatively new to Seattle’s billionaire circles with a net worth of about $1.1 billion. Born and raised in the Bay Area, he’s probably a 49ers fan.
- Former Starbucks chairman Howard Schultz is … never mind.
The buyer could also come from outside the region.
The NFL requires that a controlling owner hold at least a 30% stake in a team and limits institutional ownership, meaning private equity firms — now allowed to invest in NFL franchises — can only play a minority role. That makes an individual or family-led ownership group the most likely outcome.
ESPN reported that the Seahawks have passed a threshold after which a sale would no longer require sharing 10% of the proceeds with the state of Washington.
The sale is part of the long process of divesting many of the assets and investments that Allen made during his lifetime. Allen, who bought the Seahawks in the late 1990s, died in 2018 at the age of 65 after he was diagnosed with a recurrence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
His purchase of the Seahawks is widely credited with keeping the team in Seattle after a prior ownership group explored relocating the franchise to Southern California. Since his death, Allen’s estate has steadily moved to sell major assets, including real estate holdings and, more recently, advancing the sale process for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 for approximately $200 million from previous owner Ken Behring, securing the team’s home in Seattle after Behring threatened a move to California.
Jody Allen raised the 12 flag at the NFC Championship at Lumen Field, where the Seahawks beat the Los Angeles Rams to advance to the Super Bowl — the team’s fourth appearance and first since 2015.
The Seahawks play the Patriots Sunday at 3:30 p.m. PT.
