Afternoon Edition

August 31, 2026

Vinod Khosla’s family beat out a group led by Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal for the Seahawks. Now, members of that consortium have been invited to join the new ownership group.

—Mark Maske and Ben Horney

First Up

Exclusive: NFL Draft analyst Daniel Jeremiah is launching a new podcast jointly with ESPN and Omaha Productions.
The PGA Tour is revamping its fan code of conduct after several players this season raised concerns about the impact sports betting is having on professional golf.
Ticket prices for the US Open’s Tuesday night session have doubled since the announcement that Alex Eala’s first-round match is scheduled that evening.
The business of sports, in your pocket. The FOS app goes live Sept. 1. Pre-save it now, so you get it the moment it launches.

Runners-Up Offered Seahawks Stake After Losing Out on Team

Kevin Ng-Imagn Images

The Seahawks’ newly approved owners are finalizing their group of investors ahead of the imminent closing of their $9.612 billion deal to purchase the team from the Paul G. Allen estate.

The new ownership group is led by the family of venture capitalist Vinod Khosla. NFL team owners voted unanimously last week in Atlanta to ratify the deal. That came after the league’s finance and ownership policy committees previously voted unanimously to recommend approval.

The closing of the deal is expected “very soon,” a source told Front Office Sports on Monday. Sources had previously said they expected the deal to close in September. The Seahawks host the Patriots in the NFL’s season-opening game Sept. 9 at Lumen Field, a rematch of February’s Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California, which the Seahawks won 29–13.

The Khosla-led ownership group could add investors from the runner-up bidding group that it beat out to purchase the team, a source told FOS. The other finalist in the bidding, FOS previously reported, was a group headed by Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck. Mittal is the CEO of steel and mining company ArcelorMittal and son of the company’s executive chairman, Lakshmi Mittal, whose family was recently part of a group that paid billions of dollars for a minority stake in Liverpool. Grousbeck was previously the governor of the Celtics and remains a minority owner after his family sold the team to a group led by Bill Chisholm in a $6 billion deal.

Members of the Mittal-Grousbeck bidding group have been invited to join the Khosla ownership group, the source said. But it’s not clear which investors, if any, have agreed to join.

Khosla referred a question about the matter to Allen & Co., the New York investment banking firm that oversaw the sale process on behalf of Paul Allen’s estate. Allen & Co. declined to comment. (The late Microsoft cofounder was not related to the family that founded the investment bank.)

A representative for Mittal declined to comment, and Grousbeck did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Khosla, 71, is the cofounder of Sun Microsystems and the founder of Khosla Ventures. His net worth is an estimated $13.1 billion, according to Forbes. His wife, Neeru Khosla, will serve as the Seahawks’ controlling owner. Their son, Neal Khosla, will have a significant leadership role in the ownership group. He is the CEO of Curai, an artificial intelligence healthcare company.

The Khosla family holds a 3.1% stake in the 49ers that was acquired in May 2025. That interest will have to be divested at some point, although similar NFL ownership situations in the past have taken months to be resolved. Khosla is not required to sell his 49ers stake before the Seahawks deal is completed. The 49ers will have final say over whom he sells to, a source familiar with the matter tells FOS.

Under NFL ownership rules, the primary owner must hold at least a 30% ownership stake and the investment group can have no more than 25 members.

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ONE BIG FIG

The Love Scam

Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

$1.3 million

That’s the amount that federal prosecutors say Daejon Love and Taylor Chan stole from dozens of women over the last four years, as Love posed as an NFL player on dating apps. Since Love and Chan were arrested last week, Love’s enormous digital footprint has emerged, including an Instagram account dedicated to his victims, a video of him running routes in a 49ers helmet on a beach, and screenshots of text messages where he told a woman that he had to clear “mental, physical, and emotional” waivers to get on an NFL roster. Love also posted a video of him posting what he claimed was an NFL contract and that he would wear No. 7 for the 49ers.

The pair were arrested by the FBI in Boise, Idaho, last week on wire fraud charges. The FBI says Chan posed as Love’s financial adviser, while Love dated the women and convinced them their money would go toward his investments. There are at least 26 alleged victims, and according to the government, “the FBI believes there are many more.”

LOUD AND CLEAR

Late Start

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“I definitely think there’s room for improvement there.”

—Venus Williams on scheduling at the US Open after her first-round loss to fellow American Sofia Kenin in a match that didn’t begin until 12:13 a.m., the latest start time in the tournament’s history.

Their match was delayed after Novak Djokovic and Mariano Navone played for a marathon 4 hours and 36 minutes at Arthur Ashe Stadium, which ended in Djokovic losing 7–6 (5), 5–7, 4–6, 6–2, 6–1.

In a post-match interview, Williams, who lost 6–2, 7–6 (6), said, “It’s not ideal. I would have preferred something else definitely. I think it wasn’t great for either of us, so I think we both tried our best. Yeah, I just don’t know any other sport where you have to start that late.”

STATUS REPORT

One Up, Two Down, One Push

Brett Davis-Imagn Images

Argentina ⬇ Lionel Messi announced Monday he will retire from international competition. “There isn’t much time left, and chapters are coming to a close, and this is one that hurts me deeply,” the Inter Miami player posted on Instagram. Earlier this month, FIFA fined Argentina more than $300,000, and it distributed suspensions and fines for individual players for “discriminatory chants and gestures,” making political demonstrations, and violence against other players.

WTGL ⬆ The rosters for the five teams competing in the women’s indoor team golf league’s inaugural season this fall were revealed Monday. Charley Hull, Michelle Wie West, Rose Zhang, and Lexi Thompson are among the most notable stars among the 25 players competing in WTGL. All matches will be played in South Florida at the 1,500-seat SoFi Center, which is the home of the men’s TGL, cofounded by Tiger Woods and Rory McIlroy.

George Santos ⬇ The former U.S. politician has been permanently banned from using Kalshi and fined $71,356 after he didn’t cooperate with the prediction-market platform’s investigation into insider trading. Earlier this year, Santos said he would attend the State of the Union, although he later bet on Kalshi that he wouldn’t attend but failed to disclose that. The CFTC in July ordered Santos to return the $17,569.98 he made in illegal profits and fined him $17,500. In response to the Kalshi ban, Santos posted on social media, “thanks for the lifetime ban from your gambling platform. Let’s see how much longer you guys are around for.”

Cody Gakpo ⬆⬇ The Dutch forward will likely be staying at Liverpool after the team declined a £75 million ($102 million) transfer bid from Manchester City that included another £5 million in performance incentives. On Monday, Liverpool signed French left winger Bradley Barcola from Paris Saint-Germain for £106 million ($144 million), fueling speculation about Gakpo’s future role with the club. Liverpool finished fifth in the English Premier League last season, three spots below Manchester City. Gakpo made 52 appearances for the club across all competitions and scored nine goals—his lowest tally for Liverpool since his first season with the club in 2022–23. The Premier League transfer window closes Tuesday at 6 p.m. ET.