A Super Bowl Sale: Seahawks Announce They’ve Begun Process of Selling Team

The defending Super Bowl champions are up for sale. After weeks of speculation and rumors, the Seattle Seahawks will be sold, the team announced on Wednesday. “The Estate of Paul G. Allen today announced it has commenced a formal sale process for the Seattle Seahawks NFL franchise, consistent with Allen’s directive to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all Estate proceeds to philanthropy,” the team announced. “The Estate has selected investment bank Allen & Company and law firm Latham & Watkins to lead the sale process, which is estimated to continue through the 2026 off-season. NFL owners must then ratify a final purchase agreement.” The Seahawks have been in the Allen family since 1997, when Paul Allen bought the Seahawks for $194 million from then-owner Ken Behring. Since Allen, co-founder of Microsoft, died in 2018 from complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma at 65, the Seahawks and NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers have been owned by his sister, Jody. The estate agreed in September to sell the Trail Blazers to an investment group led by Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. In the week leading up to Super Bowl LX, ESPN reported that it was anticipated that the Seahawks would go up for sale. They wound up defeating the New England Patriots, 29-13, to capture their second Super Bowl win in franchise history. With the Seahawks fresh off a Super Bowl title and becoming the latest team to hit the market, there’s been some speculation that this sale could be the richest in professional sports history. The sale of the Los Angeles Lakers in 2025 broke the record for the richest sale in sports history at $10 billion. As for the richest sale in NFL history, the Washington Commanders were sold for $6.05 billion in 2024. The 2022 sale of the Denver Broncos is the second-richest sale in NFL history at $4.65 billion. The Seahawks were valued at $6.7 billion by Forbes in August, making them the 14th-highest valued NFL team. The Associated Press contributed to this report.