The Seattle Seahawks could be put up for sale after they play in the Super Bowl next weekend.
Some NFL team owners believe Jody Allen, chair of the Seahawks, is ready to sell the franchise, according to two people familiar with the owners’ views and their deliberations on the matter. There have been discussions within the ownership ranks that the sale process could begin soon after the Super Bowl, according to those people, who spoke on the condition of anonymity Friday because the prospective sale has not been announced.
Those people warned that the timing may not be certain. The Seahawks face the New England Patriots on Feb. 8 in Super Bowl LX in Santa Clara, California. ESPN reported Friday that the team is expected to be put up for sale after the Super Bowl.
The trust of late owner Paul Allen has owned the team since the Microsoft co-founder’s death in 2018. Jody Allen is Paul Allen’s sister and has served as the de facto owner of the franchise in her role as trustee. She serves as chair of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers under the same circumstances.
A spokesperson for the Paul G. Allen Estate said in a statement Friday that the Seahawks are not for sale.
“We don’t comment on rumors or speculation, and the team is not for sale,” the spokesperson said. “We’ve already said that will change at some point per Paul’s wishes, but I have no news to share. Our focus right now is winning the Super Bowl and completing the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers in the coming months.”
The NFL declined to comment.
The estate announced in May that it started the process of selling the Trail Blazers. The team said in a statement at the time that was “consistent with Allen’s directive to eventually sell his sports holdings and direct all estate proceeds to philanthropy.” The estate said it hired New York investment firm Allen & Company and law firm Hogan Lovells to oversee the sale. A group led by Tom Dundon, owner of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, agreed in August to buy the Trail Blazers at a reported valuation of approximately $4.25 billion and signed a purchase agreement in September. The sale is not yet completed.
The Seahawks were valued at an estimated $7 billion by CNBC in its 2025 NFL franchise valuations; that ranked 19th among the league’s 32 franchises. Their sale price probably would surpass the NFL-record $6.05 billion that a group led by private equity investor Josh Harris paid to purchase the Washington Commanders from Daniel Snyder in 2023.
Some NFL owners have said in the past that the league should influence Jody Allen to sell the Seahawks on behalf of the estate. But they said the league wasn’t eager to do that. Meanwhile, the franchise continued to appreciate in value.
“I will do all that I can to ensure that Paul’s vision is realized, not just for years, but for generations,” Jody Allen said in a statement after her brother’s death.
Allen has maintained a relatively low public profile in her role leading the Seahawks. But she did raise the team’s “12” flag to honor its home fans before the Seahawks’ 31-27 triumph over the Los Angeles Rams in the NFC championship game Sunday.
Seattle is back in the Super Bowl for the first time since the 2014 season. The Seahawks lost to the Patriots in dramatic fashion and were denied a second straight Super Bowl title.
Allen and the Seahawks agreed to part with Pete Carroll as the team’s coach in January 2024. Mike Macdonald has the Seahawks vying for a Super Bowl title in his second season as Carroll’s successor. They have one of the league’s most successful general managers in John Schneider, and they signed quarterback Sam Darnold to a three-year, $100.5 million contract in free agency last offseason.
If the team had been sold before May 2024, the Seahawks would have owed 10 percent of the sale price to the state of Washington under the terms of a 1997 referendum that funded the construction of what is now called Lumen Field. That provision no longer applies.
Several people familiar with the views of NFL owners and the franchise sale process expressed skepticism that Amazon founder Jeff Bezos would be a prospective buyer if the Seahawks are put up for sale. Some cited Bezos’s lack of connection to Seattle after his 2023 move to Miami.
Bezos could not be reached for comment through Amazon on Saturday. He hired Allen & Company to explore a bid for the Commanders in 2023, but he did not enter the bidding process, clearing the way for Harris’s group to complete its deal with Snyder.
Bezos, who owns The Washington Post, has an estimated net worth of $250 billion, according to Forbes, making him the world’s fourth-wealthiest individual. Some in the NFL were hopeful in the past that Bezos would be involved in the bidding for the Seahawks, particularly before he moved from Seattle.
Patriots owner Robert Kraft told The Post in 2019, “I’m sure that eventually it would be in everyone’s best interests if someone that’s as community-oriented as him gets involved in the Seattle situation.”