It was qualifying for the Super Bowl LX and the news appears about the sale of the Seattle Seahawks. According to ESPNthe franchise will be on the market once the championship game against the New England Patriots. A spokesperson for the Allen family quickly came to the fore to deny this information, but the truth is that the future of the Washington State team is to be ‘auctioned’. On paper, it makes no sense that someone is going to get rid of a squad that in the last 16 years has been to three Super Bowls, has won one of them and has qualified for the playoffs 10 times, but there are more things behind it.
The fact is that the Seattle Seahawks of the NFL and the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA are currently Paul Allen family estate (founder of Microsoft with Bill Gates) since the former owner of both franchises died of cancer in 2018. Specifically, They belong to a trust whose executor is Jody Allen, Paul’s sister. Currently, the Trail Blazers are in the process of sale and in August 2025 an agreement was reached to transfer the team to the owner of the Carolina Hurricanes, Tom Dundon.
The Allen family spokesperson denied that the franchise was for sale, but did clarify: “We’ve already said that will change at some point, depending on Paul’s wishes, but I have no news to share.”. Right now we are focused on winning the Super Bowl and finalizing the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers in the coming months.” It reminds us that on the one hand we have Paul Allen’s wish, which was to sell the Seahawks and Blazers and have the proceeds donated to charity.
The majority shareholder must be a natural person
On the other hand we have the clear rules of the league. Apparently, NFL is putting pressure on Allen’s heirs so that they sell the Seahawks as soon as possible, as reported by the Wall Street Journal. Because? Well because NFL rules require that a natural person be the majority owner of a teamnot an entity like a trust. In fact, the Seahawks could face a stiff financial penalty if they don’t meet ownership requirements.
It is not strange for the NFL to get involved in these matters. It happened with the Washington Commanderswhich were sold to Josh Harris in 2023 for $6.05 billionfollowing a series of allegations of financial misconduct and sexual harassment against Daniel Snyder. Five years earlier, Jerry Richardson was forced to sell los Carolina Panthers to David Tepper amid accusations of racist behavior and workplace misconduct.
Current value of the Seahawks
If the Seahawks do indeed put themselves up for sale after the championship game, the price could be between seven or eight billion dollarsas he pointed out ESPNwhich received this appraisal through a franchise manager. This would set a new NFL record.
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