Ten days after the Seattle Seahawks won Super Bowl 60, the estate of Paul G. Allen announced Wednesday that it has begun a formal sale process for the franchise, adhering to Allen’s directive to eventually sell his sports assets and donate the proceeds to philanthropic efforts.
The Athletic reported last month that the team would be put up for sale following the Super Bowl, though the exact timing was unclear.
The investment bank Allen & Company and law firm Latham & Watkins will lead the sale process, which is expected to continue through the offseason. The last NFL team to change controlling owners was the Washington Commanders, which sold for a then-record $6.05 billion to a group led by private equity investor Josh Harris in 2023. The process took more than eight months, from the time former owner Daniel Snyder announced he was considering selling to when the deal closed. The Denver Broncos, which were held in a trust established by former owner Pat Bowlen, sold in 2022 to the Walton-Penner family for $4.65 billion after a relatively swift four-month process.
Because the Seahawks are held in a trust, as the Broncos were, it’s Jody Allen’s fiduciary duty as executor of the estate to maximize the franchise’s value in a sale. That means the highest bidder will get the team.
The estate is in the process of closing a sale of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers to a group led by billionaire Tom Dundon, who also owns the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes. It still retains a minority ownership stake in Major League Soccer’s Seattle Sounders.
Paul Allen bought the Seahawks from Ken Behring for around $200 million in 1997, preventing the team from leaving Seattle. Allen served as controlling owner until his death in October 2018 at 65. The Seahawks made four Super Bowls, winning two, since Allen bought the team.
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