Seahawks have sale agreement for an NFL-record $9.6B, with 49ers part-owners
The Seahawks have been sold. For a record price. To an investor in their archrival.
The NFL’s Super Bowl champions reached agreement Saturday to sell the Seahawks to a group led by Vinod Khosla, a venture capitalist and co-founder of Sun Microsystems who is a minority investor in the San Francisco 49ers. The deal reportedly is worth $9.61 billion.
It’s the richest sale of a franchise in NFL history. The previous record sale in the league was $6.05 billion, of the Washington Commanders in 2023.
The Seahawks are selling for the second-richest price of a sports franchise in North American sports history. The Los Angeles Lakers of the NBA sold for $10 billion last year.
The Estate of Paul G. Allen announced the agreement to sell Saturday afternoon.
The agreement is subject to approval from the NFL and league owners in a vote that’s expected Aug. 26. The league has told NFL team owners to keep that date for availability for a special meeting to approve the deal, ESPN reported Saturday. A yes vote from at least 24 of the 32 team owners, which is expected, will officially approve the Seahawks’ sale.
“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks. We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere,” Vinod Khosla said on behalf of the Khosla family, in a statement the Estate of Paul G. Allen released Saturday afternoon.
Khosla, 71, is an Indian-American entrepreneur and venture capitalist in the Silicon Valley. He is the founder of Khosla Ventures. Forbes estimates his worth to be about $14.5 billion. In May 2025, he and his son Neal purchased a minority stake in the Seahawks’ rival San Francisco 49ers, reportedly 3.1% of that franchise.
NFL rules require the Khoslas must sell that interest in the 49ers before they become the Seahawks owners.
Neal Khosla is a Stanford-educated co-founder and CEO of Curai, an AI-powered virtual health clinic based in Palo Alto, California.
The NFL sent a memorandum to all 32 team owners Saturday afternoon, ESPN reported.
The memo stated: “Following a thorough sales process run by (banking firm) Allen & Co., the Estate of Paul Allen has reached agreement to sell the Seattle Seahawks to the Khosla family and several limited partners, subject to membership review and approval. Allen & Co. reported very robust interest in the Club throughout the process, with the Khosla group emerging as the Club’s preferred buyer among multiple qualified bidders. The Khosla family currently owns a limited partner interest in the San Francisco 49ers and would be required to divest that interest. The Khosla family includes Neeru Khosla, who would serve as the controlling owner, Vinod Khosla, and their son Neal Khosla. Neeru Khosal is an educator and entrepreneur....”
Neeru Khosla, 71, is Vinod’s wife and Neal’s mother.
Vinod Khosla submitted a letter of intent to buy the Seahawks in early May, sources told Sportico.
The Khoslas’ bid beat out one from a second investment group led by India steel magnate Aditya Mittal plus Wyc Grousbeck, co-owners of the NBA’s Boston Celtics.
Those two groups emerged recently as the leaders bidding against each other. That pushed the sale price past $9 billion.
All of that money will go to charity, per the wishes of late Seahawks owner Paul Allen.
“Excited to be part of this great franchise. Also excited to see the money all go to a non-profit,” Khosla wrote Saturday on his X/Twitter account @vkhosla.
Less than two weeks after the Seahawks won the Super Bowl Feb. 8, Paul Allen’s trust and the team chaired by the late owner’s sister Jody Allen announced the franchise was for sale. That’s per the mandate of Paul Allen, who bought the Seahawks in 1997 for $194 million from Ken Behring to keep Behring from moving the team to Southern California.
Allne also dictated via his estate that proceeds from the sale of the franchise are to go to some of his many philanthropic charities worldwide.
This story was originally published July 11, 2026 at 7:33 PM with the headline "Seahawks have sale agreement for an NFL-record $9.6B, with 49ers part-owners."
