Seattle Seahawks to go up for sale after Super Bowl LX, per sources

After years of vague speculation and generic statements, we finally have a solid, concrete answer to the many questions that have been raised about the Seahawks since October 15th, 2018. Paul Allen, Owner of the Seattle Seahawks, passed away on that day, handing ownership of the team over to his estate, headed by his sister. How long would that arrangement last?

With today’s big news, we’ve been given a timeline. Per a report from Seth Wickersham and Brady Henderson, the Seahawks will be put up for sale after Super Bowl LX, meaning the process of a handoff to a new owner or ownership group will begin this offseason. More than seven years after Allen’s tragic passing, his directive to sell will be followed.

Paul Allen purchased the team from Ken Behring in 1996, becoming owner officially in 1997, saving the team from a potential move to Los Angeles in the process. The Seahawks reached never-before-seen heights under his ownership, acquiring Super Bowl winning coach Mike Holmgren in 1999 and eventually getting to a super bowl in 2005.

After Holmgren’s departure in 2008, Allen oversaw a pivot to Pete Carroll, legendary college coach, who promptly took the Seahawks to their first super bowl victory in 2013, and a repeat trip to the big game the following year. The Seahawks made the playoffs twelve times during Paul’s ownership, having made it just four times in the previous twenty seasons.

After his passing of septic shock, a complication from lymphoma, Jody Allen largely took up the mantle of team owner, although the team technically was still under Paul’s estate. Part of the arrangement was that, eventually, Jody Allen would oversee a sale of the team, along with some of Paul’s other assets, and donate the proceeds to charity. It just wasn’t clear when.

It was fairly clear that they would at least wait until after 2024. Part of the agreement for building a new stadium in the city of Seattle (then called Seahawk Stadium, then Qwest Field, then CenturyLink Field, and now Lumen Field) was that the city would get 10% of any proceeds of a team sale before then. We’re well past that date now.

Back in 2022, Jody Allen acknowledged that the team and other elements of the Paul G. Allen Estate would be sold ‘eventually’, but said there was no timeline and that it could take decades. It will not end up taking that long, although I would point out that it could still be a couple years before any deal is finalized.

According to the article from Wickersham and Henderson, conversations about the sale have been going on at the league and ownership level for the last week, so the ball is already rolling. With the team in such a strong spot, nine days away from playing in the Super Bowl with a young roster, young head coach, and elite general manager, the price tag should be gigantic.

Credit this guy for doing a good job building the team and making it as valuable as it will be this offseason. — Seattle Seahawks general manager John Schneider against the Arizona Cardinals | Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images

One rival executive believes the team sale will easily break the NFL record, set by the Washington Commanders, who were sold to a group led by Josh Harris for $6.05 billion in 2023. The projection offered up was anywhere from $7 to $8 billion, which makes sense given the position the organization currently finds themselves in.

Sportico valued the Seahawks at $6.59 billion recently, and that was before their current run to Super Bowl LX. This is actually the first time the entirety of an NFL team that had just played in a super bowl has ever been put up for sale, so it’s a rare opportunity. There are plenty of billionaires who reside in Washington State that might like the idea of owning a football team.

Expect to see plenty of speculation about Steve Ballmer, Bill Gates, and Jeff Bezos getting involved, as they can all afford it many times over. Maybe it will be a group of ultra-wealthy individuals coming together to put the funds together. But as we start to close the door on this era of Seahawks football, let’s give it up to Jody for stewarding the franchise well.

It could have gone badly. Jody wasn’t the one who bought the team, Jody wasn’t the one who had shown passion for sports. If she had ended up being an absentee owner, it wouldn’t have been a surprise. Some even predicted it. But Jody was not any of those things. In 2022, she concluded her statement on the eventual sale of the team like this.

"Until then, my focus -- and that of our teams -- is on winning."

And for the Seahawks, it really has been. (Perhaps fans of the Portland Trailblazers would object.) The Seahawks remained a playoff team in the early stages of her ‘owning’ the team, had one disappointing season in 2021, and Jody didn’t blink when John Schneider wanted to trade Russell Wilson away. She gave the move a stamp of approval.

How many owners would have refused to deal the organization’s presumed meal ticket? The best quarterback in team history, super bowl champion, highlight reel creator who put butts in seats at Lumen Field. I’d say quite a few of them. But Jody went along with it and was richly rewarded for it, the trade becoming a massive win for the franchise almost immediately.

And then after two winning seasons, okaying the firing of legendary head coach Pete Carroll? Would an absentee owner have done that? It couldn’t have been easy. But she did it, and has been rewarded for that as well, quickly finding one of the young stars of the league in Mike Macdonald, who has produced two double-digit win seasons and now a super bowl trip.

She is leaving the team in better shape than when she left it, and she took over when it was in fairly decent shape. There’s something to be said for that. Jody has been great for the Seahawks, and is a big reason why the team is going to be so covetable in the next several months. Huge credit to her.

It will certainly give this upcoming offseason a lot of intrigue as the Seahawks navigate the waters of finding a new owner. Finding the right one will be perhaps the most important thing this organization does for the next few decades, as they strive to continue the legacy that Paul Allen, and Jody, have been laying down for the last thirty years.

Can the Seahawks hit the market with a fresh Super Bowl title? — New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks helmets with Super Bowl Vince Lombardi trophy. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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