Bids to buy Seahawks reportedly due Monday
SEATTLE – The recent silence surrounding the sale of the Seattle Seahawks may be about to break.
According to a report earlier in the day from Bloomberg News, the first round of bids were due on Monday.
The report cited “people familiar with the matter” as its source, while stating there was no comment from either the Seahawks or Allen & Co., a New York-based investment bank which is handling the sale process.
The report stating that the first round of bids were due Monday indicates there will be some further steps before any agreements are reached.
It also indicates the process is taking another step toward what the Seahawks and the NFL likely hope is a completion of the sale before the start of the 2026 regular season.
The Bloomberg report did not mention any new potential buyers other than repeating those who have been previously reported.
Those are:
• A group led by two alternate governors of the Boston Celtics, Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal. Mittal is part of the new Celtics ownership group that bought controlling share from a group put together by Grousbeck and his family. Wyc Grousbeck retained a minority share in the Celtics.
• A group led by billionaire Vinod Khosla, a minority share holder of the San Francisco 49ers.
• A group led by billionaire financier Todd Boehly, who also has stakes in the Los Angeles Lakers and Dodgers and is chairman and owner of Chelsea Football Club.
The reported deadline should begin to reveal which of the groups has actually made bids and if there are other potential suitors.
The Bloomberg report indicated that the pool of bidders may be fairly shallow, stating: “With team valuations surging over the last few years, the pool of potential suitors has been shrinking.”
The report also noted that the Seahawks being speculated as likely to be the most expensive NFL team in league history, easily topping the $6.05 billion that the Washington Commanders fetched in the summer of 2023, “will again test the appetite of billionaires to drum up cash for a sports franchise.”
Much speculation has stated that the Seahawks could go for $9-10 billion, with the league and owners of other NFL teams undoubtedly hoping for a price on the high end to help reset the values for all teams.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in May that reports of soft interest in the Seahawks were “not accurate” and that “there’s been tremendous interest in the team.”
The Seahawks have been owned since the spring of 1997 by Paul Allen and his estate. The Seahawks have been chaired by his sister, Jody, since he died in 2018. The team was put up for sale in February in accordance with a directive in Paul Allen’s will that his assets be sold and proceeds awarded to charities.
A statement from the team at that time said the sale process “is estimated to continue through the 2026 offseason” appearing to set a hoped-for deadline for the sale to be completed as the beginning of the NFL regular season. The Seahawks will host the first game of the 2026 regular season on Sept. 9 against the New England Patriots.
A report from Pro Football Talk earlier this month appeared to affirm that the hope remains the sale will be completed by the start of the regular season, stating “a source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that a new owner is expected to be in place by September.”
Monday’s apparent deadline for bids looks like a step toward getting that done.