Owners approve Seahawks sale to Khosla group

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  Brady HendersonAug 26, 2026, 03:10 PM ET

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  Brady Henderson is a reporter for NFL Nation and covers the Seattle Seahawks for ESPN. He joined ESPN in 2017 after covering the team for Seattle Sports 710-AM.

NFL owners on Wednesday voted unanimously to approve the $9.612 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks from Paul Allen's estate to a group led by San Francisco 49ers limited partner Vinod Khosla.

The vote took place during a one-day league meeting at the Atlanta Airport Marriott. The record-breaking sale, which was agreed to in July, needed approval from at least 24 of 32 owners to be ratified, an outcome that was widely expected.

Khosla will have to relinquish his stake in the 49ers as part of his agreement to buy the Seahawks. The team won't officially change hands until the transaction closes, which could happen before the Seahawks open the season Sept. 9 against the New England Patriots in a rematch of Seattle's Super Bowl LX victory on Feb. 8.

Owners on the league's finance and ownership policy committees last week voted unanimously to recommend approval of the sale.

The $9.612 billion purchase price is the highest ever for an NFL team, topping the $6.05 billion the Washington Commanders fetched when they were sold in 2023. That was a record sum for a North American sports franchise at the time, though the Los Angeles Lakers have since been sold for $10 billion and are in the process of being sold again for $12.5 billion.

On Feb. 18, the Paul G. Allen Estate -- which has owned the team since the Microsoft co-founder died in 2018 -- announced that it had started the formal sale process in accordance with his will. It was the first time in the Super Bowl era that a team had been put on the market shortly after playing in the championship game.

The Allen estate announced July 11 that it had entered into a formal sale agreement with the Khosla-led group. The Khosla family, which also includes Vinod Khosla's wife, Neeru, and their son, Neal, will be the Seahawks' new controlling owners. It's unclear who else is joining the group as limited partners.

Born in India, Vinod Khosla is the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and founder of the venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, which has made early-stage investments in companies including OpenAI, DoorDash and Instacart.

Khosla, 71, has a net worth of $13.8 billion, according to Forbes. He joined the 49ers' ownership group in 2025, buying 3.1% of the team at a more than $8.5 billion valuation.

Paul Allen saved the Seahawks from relocating to Southern California when he bought the team from Ken Behring in 1997. His sister, Jody, took control of the Seahawks and NBA's Portland Trail Blazers as chair of both teams upon her brother's death with a directive to eventually sell both, with all estate proceeds going to philanthropy. The Trail Blazers' sale was finalized in March.

During the 29 seasons in which Paul or Jody Allen was running the team, the Seahawks appeared in four Super Bowls, won two of them and made the playoffs 17 times. Their 268 regular-season wins in that span are fifth-most in the NFL.

Information from ESPN's Seth Wickersham and Adam Schefter was used in this report.