Commissioner Roger Goodell denies NFL fined Seahawks

SAN JOSE, Calif. — NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell on Monday denied a report that said the Seahawks were fined $5 million for not adhering to league rules on the ownership structure of the franchise following the death of Paul Allen.

Goodell was asked directly during his state-of-the-league address about the Seahawks’ ownership situation after ESPN first reported late last week that the team would be put up for sale following the season.

About the fine, which was reported by The Wall Street Journal over the weekend, Goodell said “it’s not true.”

As for a potential sale, Goodell praised Jody Allen’s stewardship of the franchise as the chair of her brother’s trust following his death in 2018.

“Jody’s doing a great job of managing the team. [Vice chair Bert Kolde] is here. They’ve done a great job. They’re in the Super Bowl, and I think from that standpoint they’ve done a really important job in the context of the trust and the execution of that,” Goodell said. “But eventually the team will need to be sold in accordance with that. That will be Jody’s decision for when she does that, and we will be supportive of that.”

Front Office Sports reported Monday, citing sources, that the Seahawks are expected to be put up for sale after the Allen estate’s sale of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers closes. The Blazers sale is expected to close in March.

Kolde was in attendance at Goodell’s news conference, but Jody Allen was not. Kolde said Jody Allen will be present for Sunday’s Super Bowl at Levi’s Stadium against the New England Patriots.

Kolde said after Goodell’s news conference that he had no comment on the report of the fine or whether Jody Allen is being pressured to sell the team, which also was in The Wall Street Journal report.

To several other questions, Kolde said he would let a statement released Friday through a spokesperson for the Paul G. Allen Estate stand as the team’s response.

That statement read in part that “the team is not for sale. We’ve already said that will change at some point per Paul’s wishes, but I have no news to share.”

Kolde also said he would not address a question about whether there are already potential buyers and if so whether they are local.

But to a question of whether there is reason for a concern that the team could be bought buy an owner who would want to move it, Kolde noted that the Seahawks’ lease at Lumen Field runs through 2031. There are also reported options to extend it.

Asked if he thought a Super Bowl title would enhance the value of the team, Kolde said, “I can’t predict that, but I think the (Boston) Celtics’ (championship) helped the Celtics’ franchise price.”

The Celtics were sold last year for $6.1 billion.

Kolde, though, did deliver something of a defense of the Allen family’s ownership of the team, noting that when Paul Allen bought the team in 1997 it prevented the team from leaving.

“The Allen family put a lot into saving the Seahawks, keeping them in Seattle,” Kolde said, then referencing the vote that Allen led to fund what became Lumen Field. “We campaigned around the state, the voters agreed with us, and we put together Lumen Field, and we delivered on everything we promised in that campaign — the team, the stadium. Soccer balls were on our posters, the Sounders launch was the most successful MLS soccer team, [the men’s] World Cup is coming. We talked about the World Cup back in our campaign. We have been all about sports and the community for decades.”