The owners of the National Football League (NFL) in the United States have unanimously approved the sale of the Seattle Seahawks for a league-record price of $9.6bn to a group led by the Khosla family.
The sales agreement was announced on July 11 and awaited approval at a special meeting of the owners in Atlanta on Wednesday to become official. The sale was in accordance with the wishes of the late team owner, Paul Allen.
At least 24 of 32 owners were required to approve the sale, which was expected after the NFL’s finance and ownership policy committees voted unanimously last week to recommend ratification.
“How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl?” said the multi-billionaire businessman Vinod Khosla, standing with his coowners, wife Neeru and son Neal. “We are incredibly lucky and humbled by this gift, I would say, from the Allen trust.”
“The task ahead is actually pretty simple,” Vinod Khosla said after the vote. “Keep the winning streak alive. Get another Super Bowl. That’s simple. In general, our approach is generally going to be long-term focused. That’s our inclination always. So keep winning, take a long-term approach, and learn a lot.”
The estate of Paul G. Allen, which inherited the NFL team after his death in 2018, agreed to terms with the Khosla family after a search for a new owner. Allen’s will stipulated that the team be sold and assets be distributed to various charities.
The price tag is an NFL record for a franchise sale. It is the second-highest valuation in North American sports history; the Los Angeles Lakers sold for $10 billion last year and were more recently valued at $12.5 billion, as Bob Iger and Josh Kushner plan to purchase a majority stake in the NBA team from Mark Walter.
The Washington Commanders were sold for approximately $6 billion in 2023 to a group headed by Josh Harris.
Paul Allen bought the Seahawks for $194 million from Ken Behring in 1997 and helped keep the team in Seattle. Allen, cofounder of Microsoft, also owned the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, with his sister Jody Allen assuming duties as owner for the estate.
Vinod Khosla thanked Jody Allen and the Allen Trust “for trusting us with this franchise”.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said the family’s experience with the 49ers was attractive to other NFL owners.
“They know our league well,” Goodell said. “As you know, they have been in ownership in the NFC West with the San Francisco 49ers. They understand the passion of the NFL, they understand the 12s, they understand this Seattle community and the NFL. And so that makes this transaction particularly attractive to all of us.”
Who is Vinod Khosla?
The 71-year-old is a venture capitalist and a limited partner of the San Francisco 49ers — buying 3.1 percent of the franchise last year at a more than $8.5 billion valuation, according to the ESPN network.
He will have to relinquish his stake in that team as part of the agreement to buy the Seahawks, as the transaction could close before the defending Super Bowl champions open the season on September 9 against the New England Patriots, the team they defeated 29-13 in February for the title.
Khosla, born in Pune, India, is the cofounder of Sun Microsystems and founder of the venture capital firm, Khosla Ventures. Neeru Khosla, who also was born in India and met Vinod when they were children, will be the controlling owner, according to The Athletic. It says their son, Neal, is expected to have a major role in the organisation.
Vinod Khosla said he was first a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers when he moved to the United States in 1976.
“We’ve been very passionate about football for a long time,” he said. “I would say we’ve been going to home games at the 49ers since [Neal] was five, maybe half of all home games since he was five. And so football is definitely a passion. … I was originally and still am a big Steelers fan. … Little known fact, but I still watch all the Steelers games, too.”
