Seahawks sale: Here's what comes next in the process

For the first time since the Seahawks officially announced they were for sale Feb. 18, there was substantive news this week about potential future owners.

Sportico reported that two groups/individuals are preparing to make bids to buy the team from the Paul G. Allen Estate - Boston Celtics alternate governors Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal, and Vinod Khosla, a minority stakeholder in the San Francisco 49ers.

So what happens now? Could there be more bidders?

Let's try to answer a few questions:

Might there be more bidders?

Yes, there very well could, though a story by ESPN on Friday reported that overall interest in the team is "soft and it's unclear how many prospective buyers there might be.

Albert Breer of SI.com this week mentioned Steve Apostolopoulos, a Canadian businessman who has made or considered bids to buy the Washington Commanders, Charlotte Hornets and Ottawa Senators over the past few years, as one to watch. ESPN's story also mentioned that he might be interested.

Otherwise, there have been no other names linked other than two that surfaced earlier and were quickly debunked through denials by spokesperson or sources - Meta CEO Mark Zuckerberg and Apple CEO Tim Cook.

Who knows? Maybe the timing of leaks this week were inspired to try to jump-start the process and coerce any other groups who might be interested to take action, one way or the other.

What happens now?

Thursday's reports stated only that Mittal/Grousbeck and Khosla were preparing bids.

So the next step is obviously for each to make them.

That process will be handled by the New York-based investment bank Allen & Company and the law firm Latham & Watkins.

Both are well-versed in handling such transactions.

A 2025 Sports Business Journal story called Allen & Company the "go-to adviser for team owners and prospective buyers" and noted it has advised on recent sales of the Brooklyn Nets, Carolina Panthers, Denver Broncos and New York Mets.

It also recently worked with Jody Allen on the sale of the Portland Trail Blazers.

Latham & Watkins has done plenty of work in the sports field, including advising Mittal when his family acquired a 75% stake of the Indian Premier League cricket franchise Rajasthan Royals, a deal that became final this week.

The next step is for offers to be extended and one to be accepted and forwarded to the NFL for approval.

How does the approval process work?

Once a bid is accepted, it is passed along to the NFL's eight-owner finance committee for review.

That committee examines the specifics of the financing involved, backgrounds of prospective owners, etc., and if it finds all is good, typically sends it to the full ownership group with a recommendation of approval.

An official vote of owners is held. Any sale must get a yes vote from at least 24 of the 32 owners.

Approval can be a slam dunk once the proposal gets past the finance committee.

It's the finance committee, which is chaired by Kansas City Chiefs owner Clark Hunt, where the major vetting is done.

The last sale of an NFL team came in 2023 when the Washington Commanders were sold by Daniel Snyder to a group led by Josh Harris for a record $6.05 billion.

An initial offer was accepted in May of that year. But the finance committee asked for some tweaks, including asking Harris to cut down the amount of debt he was taking and increase his equity - a primary owner must put up at least 30% of the total.

Once that got adjusted, the finance committee signed off and owners voted unanimously to approve the sale July 20, 2023, during a special meeting.

A sale of the Seahawks this summer would likely require a special meeting.

NFL owners will meet May 19 in Orlando. Owners aren't scheduled to gather again until a fall meeting in October. But if action needed to be taken, a special meeting could be called.

The year before the Commanders were sold, the Denver Broncos also changed hands. That year, an agreement was reached June 8 and the sale to a group led by Walmart heir Rob Walton was unanimously approved Aug. 9 in a meeting that was reported to last less than 45 minutes.

So, history shows the process can certainly happen relatively quickly and in time for the start of the 2026 season.

That's been the goal from the beginning.

The Seahawks' statement in February stated that the process was "estimated to continue through the 2026 offseason," apparently hoping it would be completed by the start of the regular season, which is only about four months away.

The Sports Business Journal reported that "league insiders really don't want the 2026 season to start with an unsettled franchise-control issue."

But because the process didn't begin until after the Super Bowl - had the Seahawks not advanced it would have begun earlier - it might take some doing to get that done.

ESPN's story Friday stated "the NFL expects the sale process to continue into the 2026 season, but it has dragged a bit.'"

What other ownership rules are there?

Aside from the primary owner needing to account for at least 30% of equity, the other big rules are that there can be no more than 25 people in an ownership group and private equity can account for no more than 10%.

Those rules eliminate the possibility of a publicly owned team similar to how the Green Bay Packers are run. The Packers, who were founded in 1919 and incorporated in 1923, were grandfathered in as the NFL gradually solidified its ownership rules through the years.

The NFL didn't allow private equity funds to purchase shares until August 2024.

The league has since approved five private equity firms to buy stakes.

Four teams have sold at least 8% stakes to private equity - the Dolphins, Bills, Patriots and Chargers.

Intriguingly, Hunt seemed to hold out the idea that the league could approve for PE firms to account for more than a 10% stake in an interview with Sports Business Journal at the league meetings earlier this spring.

Hunt specifically cited the Seahawks, stating that private equity will likely be necessary to complete a sale with a purchase price that some think could be the highest in history for an American pro sports franchise, topping the $10 billion valuation that the Lakers went for in October (though ESPN's story Friday stated it might be close to $9 billion).

"We'll learn a lot about our private equity policies through that sales process, and I have no doubt that private equity will probably be part of the equation with whoever ends up buying the Seahawks," Hunt was quoted as saying. "It'll be very, very helpful to that transaction."

Hunt noted that the four teams that have sold private equity shares didn't want to give up more than 10%, so there has yet to be a challenge to the NFL's rules.

"But at some point that will change," Hunt said. "Perhaps it's a controlled transaction like the Seahawks.

Meaning, if the group that wants to buy the Seahawks has to accept more than 10% private equity to get it done, the NFL could consider it.

The news of at least two potential ownership groups means at least some answers might be coming soon.

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