The acquisition of the Seahawks by a group led by 49ers minority investor Vinod Khosla set the NFL record for a change-of-control sale at $9.612 billion, ending a five-month process the league described as “robust” in a memo shared with clubs on Saturday.
Terms of the transaction were not disclosed, but a source familiar with the matter confirmed to Front Office Sports the sale price is $9.612 billion, soaring past the previous record of $6.05 billion, set in 2023 when the Commanders were sold to a group led by Josh Harris. The deal did not quite beat the record for the highest-priced pro team change-of-control sale in history. That still belongs to the Lakers, which last year were sold to a group led by Mark Walter at a $10 billion valuation. The Seahawks deal marks the second-largest change-of-control transaction in pro sports history.
To complete the deal, Khosla will be required to sell his minority interest in the 49ers, which was acquired just last May.
Vinod Khosla, founder of venture-capital firm Khosla Ventures, has a net worth of nearly $14 billion, according to Forbes. His wife, Neeru Khosla, will “serve as controlling owner,” according to a memo shared with other NFL teams on Saturday that was obtained by FOS. Also involved will be Vinod and Neeru’s son, Neal Khosla, the memo says—he is expected to “have a significant leadership role in the ownership group.”
“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,” Vinod Khosla said in a statement announcing the deal. “We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere.”
Sources were mixed throughout the Seahawks process about how high the interest level was. But the league’s memo to teams on Saturday said that Allen & Company, the investment bank that ran the sale process, “reported very robust interest” throughout the process, with the Khosla group “emerging as the club’s preferred buyer among multiple qualified bidders.”
At least four bids were made, and at least six suitors showed interest during the process, multiple sources tell FOS.
The league’s finance committee will now review the agreement, and then the deal will be voted on by the full group of NFL owners, with a three-fourths approval necessary for the transaction to go through.
As FOS reported July 9, it ultimately came down to two groups: the one led by Khosla, and another that featured former Celtics governor Wyc Grousbeck and current Celtics minority investor Aditya Mittal.
One source says a former Seahawks player may end up being part of the Khosla group, although another source familiar with the sale process tells FOS they are “not aware” of any former Seahawks players who are partners in the Khosla bid. No additional members of the buying group have been disclosed.
Paul Allen’s Sports Holdings
The Seahawks were put up for sale on Feb. 18, 10 days after the team beat the Patriots in Super Bowl LX, their second championship in franchise history. The sale of the team is in line with the wishes of the late Microsoft founder Paul Allen, who died in 2018 from cancer and left his sister Jody functionally in charge of the Seahawks and the NBA’s Trail Blazers. The Blazers were sold to Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon in a deal announced last September valued at more than $4 billion.
Allen bought the Seahawks for $194 million in 1997, and his will dictated that his sports holdings had to eventually be sold, with all proceeds going to a charitable foundation he set up before his death. The trustees of that foundation will decide what charities to support, a person familiar with the sale process tells FOS. Another source says details on the philanthropic plan will be “shared at the appropriate time.”
The Allen Estate still owns a 25% stake in MLS’s Seattle Sounders that it eventually must sell.
The law firm that advised the Paul Allen Estate, Latham & Watkins, was led by partners Matthew Eisler, Russell Hedman, and Michael Anastasio.
Minority stakes in NFL teams have been sold at higher valuations than $9.612 billion—for example, the Giants in September sold a 10% stake to Julie Koch and members of her billionaire family at a $10 billion valuation, and in March the Dolphins sold a 1% stake to Chinese American technology entrepreneur Lin Bin at a reported $12.5 billion valuation.
Representatives for the parties involved in the deal declined to comment further than what has been announced.
