Seahawks going up for sale, Paul G. Allen estate announces

SEATTLE — The Seattle Seahawks officially announced Wednesday morning that the Paul G. Allen estate is beginning the process of putting the team up for sale.

A statement released Wednesday morning by the team read:

“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 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.” NFL rules require 24 of 32 owners to approve a sale.

The announcement confirms reports that broke last month that the team would be put up for sale following the conclusion of the season.

After those reports, the estate released a statement that the Seahawks were not for sale at the moment but reiterated that the team would have to be sold eventually due to the directives in the will of Paul Allen, who bought the team in 1997 and held it until he died in October 2018.

After Paul Allen’s death, his sister, Jody Allen, took over as the executor and trustee of his estate and assumed the role of team chair of the Seahawks. In that role, Jody Allen was directed to sell off Paul Allen’s holdings with the majority of proceeds directed to go to charities.

The time for the sale is now, with the announcement coming a week after the team was celebrated in a parade through the streets of Seattle for winning the second Super Bowl title in team history on Feb. 8 against the New England Patriots, 29-13.

This is the first time a team that won the Super Bowl has been put up for sale in the same year.

The Seahawks are expected to fetch a record price for a North American sports franchise, besting the mark of $6.05 billion of the most recent NFL team that was sold, the Washington Commanders in 2023.

The Sports Business Journal last week reported that the Seahawks are “valued at between $6.6 billion and $7 billion by public estimates.” But others speculate the team could go for as much as $10 billion.

Some theorize that with the Seahawks coming off a Super Bowl win and the NFL set to re-open negotiations for its media rights-deals as soon as this spring the value of the team could increase.

Asked about the rumors of the team being put up for sale in a news conference before the Super Bowl, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said: “Jody’s doing a great job of managing the team. (Vice chair Bert Kolde) is here. They’ve done a great job. They’re in the Super Bowl, and I think from that standpoint they’ve done a really important job in the context of the trust and the execution of that. But eventually the team will need to be sold in accordance with that. That will be Jody’s decision for when she does that, and we will be supportive of that.”

At that same news conference, Goodell denied that the Seahawks had been fined $5 million for non-compliance of the league’s rules on ownership, and a source confirmed to The Seattle Times that the team was not fined. However, the Seahawks were apparently told that they could be fined.

The team being held in a trust was a violation of league rules stating that an individual and not an entity such as a trust must be the controlling owner of a team.

The Wall Street Journal was among those to report that the league had let that slide until after the passing of a time when the Seahawks would have to give back 10% of the gross sale price of the team to the state. That mandate was included in a clause in the 1997 agreement between the team and the state that funded the construction of Lumen Field.

That mandate expired in May 2024, though a source said it was more rightly viewed as passing the following year because of legal issues involved getting cleared up.

The WSJ reported that the league was putting pressure on Allen to put the team up for sale now that that clause had expired while noting that she has an agreement in place to sell the Portland Trail Blazers. The Blazers were put up for sale last May with Tom Dundon, the owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, agreeing to buy them last August for a valuation of just over $4 billion. That sale is expected to close as early as next month.

The investment bank and law firm that the Seahawks announced will lead the sale of the team also guided the sale of the Blazers.

A new owner will not only take over the team but also inherit the franchise’s lease at Lumen Field, which runs through the 2031 season with the team having three 10-year options beyond that time to extend the lease.

That lease is regarded as among many details — including the franchise’s strong fan support that has included selling out every game since the 2003 season — why it’s not regarded as likely that the Seahawks would move.

Paul Allen agreed to buy the team in the spring of 1997 for $194 million from Ken Behring with encouragement from local and state officials after Behring threatened to move the team to Anaheim, with the Seahawks even briefly holding some offseason practices in southern California in the spring of 1996.

Paul Allen was the third owner of the Seahawks.

A group named Seattle Professional Football, Inc., headed by Lloyd W. Nordstrom with partners Herman Sarkowsky, D.E. “Ned” Skinner, Howard S. Wright, M. Lamont Bean, and Lynn P. Himmelman, became the first official owners on Dec. 5, 1974.

They sold the team to Behring and Ken Hofmann on Aug. 30, 1988. Allen entered into an exclusive option to buy the team in April, 1996.

After Referendum 48 was approved to fund Lumen Field on June 17, 1998, the sale of the team to Allen became official on June 30 and what was officially termed Football Northwest was approved as owners of the team by the league on Aug. 19, 1997.

The Seahawks have had their greatest success under Paul and Jody Allen, going to all four Super Bowls in the franchise’s existence during their tenure — the first following the 2005 season — and winning titles in the 2013 and 2025 seasons.

Seahawks general manager John Schneider and coach Mike Macdonald were outspoken prior to the Super Bowl of Jody Allen’s role in helping the team’s rebuilding process to eventually winning a second Lombardi Trophy.

“The thing that sticks out to me about Jody was her enthusiasm about where she wanted our team to be, our franchise to be, as a vision of the Seattle Seahawks, and that was during our interview process,” Macdonald said. “Honestly, that’s really where I was like, ‘OK, this is something I feel really strongly about, that I think that I could help create that.’ So everything, I think, has been through that lens, and it’s very clear of what type of team she wants, and she’s been incredibly supportive.”

Macdonald noted that he met with Jody Allen over Zoom each week during the regular season.

“We haven’t hit the mark all the time and so when she gives feedback, it’s very simple, it’s through a great lens that normally maybe like finding them in fog, you don’t see it. She’s been awesome.”