New Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla is a 'big Steelers fan'

Sofia Schwarzwalder, The Seattle Times on Aug 29, 2026

Published in Football

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SEATTLE — He's a big fan of … who?

Vinod Khosla, who is all but confirmed as the new owner of the Seattle Seahawks after the NFL unanimously approved his purchase of the team Wednesday afternoon, told The Seattle Times' Bob Condotta in Atlanta that he's a big fan of another NFL franchise.

Surprisingly, the team he mentioned isn't the San Francisco 49ers, which he purchased a 3.1% minority stake in last year with son Neal Khosla.

It's the Pittsburgh Steelers.

Khosla, who made his fortune as a venture capitalist in Silicon Valley after immigrating to the U.S. from India at age 21, became a fan of the Steelers when he arrived in the country.

"I happened to come to this country in '76 when the Steelers were winning the Super Bowl," Khosla said. "So actually, I was originally, and still am, a big Steelers fan, also."

He added that he still watches all of the Steelers games.

The video of Khosla saying that he remains a Steelers fan and watches all of the games made the rounds on social media after the news conference. Some fans weren't particularly pleased by Khosla's comments, given the rivalry between the two teams and the Seahawks' 2006 Super Bowl loss to the Steelers, still a painful memory for many Seahawks fans.

The Seahawks owner took to social media Friday in response to criticism he's received, responding specifically to a post by Barstool Sports with the caption: "What not to do during your opening press conference as the new Seahawks owner? Reveal you've been a Steelers fan your whole life and still watch all of their games."

"Reporters will make every molehill into a mountain just to get column inches to write or video minutes," he wrote on X. "What’s wrong with admitting my 1976-78 period in Pittsburgh (CMU) got me excited about the NFL? I still watch their games doesn’t mean I won't unconditionally ALWAYS as owner, want the Seahawks to win and have every edge up, EVERY TIME over every other team!!!! Zero questions!!! At the other end is a set of teams I always want to lose every advantage. But happy to have the sports writer getting more column inches and fill their pages. You are welcome. Apologies in advance for my very transparent style."

Khosla has talked about being an NFL fan before, including attending 49ers games in the Bay Area with Neal. Per NFL rules, the Khoslas will have to sell their minority stake in the Seahawks' rival team.

The Khosla family leads the new ownership group, with Neeru Khosla, Vinod's wife, set to serve as the franchise's controlling owner.

So far, it's been Vinod, Neeru and Neal Khosla as the face of the family group. However, on Wednesday, Vinod and Neeru's daughter, Nina, was also present. The couple has a total of four children.

The Seahawks were sold for a record $9.612 billion. After the agreement to sell was announced in July, Vinod Khosla expressed his excitement but said he would hold further comments until the sale was finalized.

Before the NFL owners meeting in Atlanta, Khosla was tagged in an X post about switching Lumen Field from turf to grass. Khosla said he would defer to people within the Seahawks organization for those kinds of decisions — a response that earned him praise from fans.

Since the ownership vote, Khosla has engaged with fans and Seahawks-related topics on X. He's spoken several times about his admiration for the 12s, calling the local fan brand "one of the best brands in the NFL" in a CNBC podcast appearance this month.

More recently, on Thursday, Khosla posted a photo of the Seahawks' logo and wrote, "One of the coolest logo's (sic) @Seahawks and fan brand '12's Everywhere.' "

A Seahawks fan responded to Khosla's post, agreeing with the sentiment but informing him that he didn't need the apostrophe in 12s. "The proper way to refer to us is not as '12’s' but rather as '12s,' " the fan wrote.

Khosla replied: "Learning!