The Seattle Seahawks are officially for sale.
A week after parading through the city to celebrate the team’s second Super Bowl championship, the team announced Wednesday that the Paul G. Allen Estate is seeking a buyer for the NFL franchise.
A sale of the 50-year-old team is “consistent with Allen’s directive to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all estate proceeds to philanthropy,” a statement posted by the estate read.
The news confirms reports from ESPN and others ahead of Super Bowl LX that team would go up for sale after that game on Feb. 8, in which the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots, 29-13. The estate, chaired by Allen’s sister Jody Allen, denied at the time that the team was for sale, and said “that will change at some point per Paul’s wishes.”
The team, which entered the league in 1976, could fetch as much as $10 billion according to projections following the championship season. The Washington Commanders sold in 2023 for a then-record $6.05 billion.
Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder and billionaire philanthropist, bought the Seahawks in 1997 for approximately $200 million from previous owner Ken Behring, securing the team’s home in Seattle after Behring threatened a move to California. Allen ran the team until his death in 2018 at the age of 65 after he was diagnosed with a recurrence of non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
The sale is part of the long process of divesting many of the assets and investments that Allen made during his lifetime. Since his death, Allen’s estate has steadily moved to sell major assets, including real estate holdings and, more recently, advancing the sale process for the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers.
The estate said Wednesday that it 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.
Allen became the 12th member of the Seahawks’ Ring of Honor, a distinguished group of people who made significant contributions to the franchise, on Oct. 3, 2019.
“He was the proudest 12 of all,” Jody Allen said in a statement at the time, in a nod to the team’s fanbase nickname.
Related:
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- Want to own a piece of the Seahawks? Seattle startup presents its private equity idea to fans
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