Is Blazers Owner Interested In Seahawks?

Money talks. When billionaire Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen makes an offhand comment, people listen.

Allen, who owns the Portland Trail Blazers of the NBA, remarked last week that while he has little interest in baseball, he likes football and might make an offer if the Seattle Sawhawks were for sale.

They’re not, but his comment was enough to set off serious speculating.

“That’s all in the hypothetical, speculative stage,” Susan Pierson, a spokeswoman for The Paul Allen Group investment company, told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer on Monday.

She said she knew of no talks between Allen and the Seahawks. Seahawks president David Behring - whose father, Ken Behring, is the team’s majority owner - confirmed the team is not for sale.

Asked about the possibility of the Behrings selling the Seahawks and being awarded an expansion franchise in Los Angeles, David Behring said, “I don’t expect the league to expand for four to five years.”

In an interview last week, Allen said he probably wouldn’t buy a baseball team, but football was another story. Would he buy the Seahawks and keep them in Seattle? “Maybe,” he said. “You never know.”

Allen’s 9.6 percent stake in Microsoft is worth more than $5 billion.