SANTA CLARA, Calif. — Defense wins championships, as the Seahawks emphatically showed in Super Bowl LX on Sunday, but to what degree it delivers viewers or means next for the franchise remains to be seen.
Eleven years after one of the most dramatic Super Bowls ever, Seattle gained revenge on New England, claiming the Lombardi Trophy in a suffocating 29–13 victory.
The win reverses the outcome of Super Bowl XLIX between the two teams in 2015, in which a late, goal-line interception sealed the win for the Patriots. This time, the Seahawks’ “Dark Side” defense registered six sacks, claimed three turnovers, returned one for a touchdown, and forced eight Patriots punts in one of the most dominant performances in NFL title game history.
Seattle’s Super Bowl win, its second in four tries in franchise history, also completes the reclamation of journeyman quarterback Sam Darnold. The eighth-year pro is now on his fifth team, pushed out from several prior teams, including the woeful Jets, and his $33.5 million salary ranks just 18th among NFL quarterbacks, but he is now a Super Bowl champion.
The Super Bowl win gave Darnold another $1 million bonus and brought his total from achieved incentives this season to $4 million.
“It’s unbelievable,” Darnold said. “I wouldn’t want it any other way.”
Franchise in Transition
With a newly minted NFL title, the Seahawks are set to be put up for sale as soon as next month.
A sale of the Seahawks would be in line with the wishes of the late Microsoft cofounder Paul Allen, who mandated the eventual sale of his sports holdings before he died in 2018. Those assets included the Seahawks, the NBA’s Blazers, and a 25% stake in MLS’s Seattle Sounders.
That Seahawks deal is expected to set a record for the largest change-of-control sale in league history, beating the $6.05 billion deal in 2023 in which a Josh Harris-led group acquired the Commanders. Several minority stakes since then have been at valuations far surpassing that figure, including a transaction last fall valuing the Giants at $10 billion.
While the Super Bowl title will create a halo effect, and some incremental revenue, around the Seahawks, the forthcoming deal will likely center more on the overall business of the NFL. That business is historically strong and only getting stronger, particularly with new domestic media deals on the way in the next few years.
Impending Departure
The completion of Super Bowl LX also means that Seahawks offensive coordinator Klint Kubiak is leaving to become head coach of the Raiders, and he confirmed the move after the game Sunday. Las Vegas will be the last of 10 NFL teams to name a new head coach this offseason, representing nearly a third of the league and tying a league record.
The Raiders have the No. 1 in the 2026 NFL Draft in April and are expected to select Indiana quarterback Fernando Mendoza, fresh off of leading the Hoosiers to a perfect season, a national title, and a Heisman Trophy win. Las Vegas also has nearly $90 million in available salary-cap space, the second-largest amount in the league.
Viewership Watch
Audience data from Super Bowl LX is expected late Tuesday.
NBC will be looking to beat last year’s average Super Bowl audience of 127.7 million, and set a new standard as the most-watched, single-network event in U.S. television history. A lively halftime show by Bad Bunny, though essentially non-political, will likely be a critical element in that push for the viewership milestone—particularly given the highly defensive nature of the game itself.
