The Seahawks got their latest Super Bowl rings on Thursday night. By the time the next season starts, the franchise should have a new owner in place.
A source with knowledge of the situation tells PFT that a new owner is expected to be in place by September.
If that happens, the next owner will formally debut as the Seahawks host the Patriots to begin the 2026 season, on Wednesday, September 9. There’s currently no clarity as to who it will be.
The basic reality of the situation is that the team will go to the highest bidder. It’s required by the terms of the late Paul Allen’s estate. Also, the owners who will be called upon to approve the sale have a strong interest in having the price tag come in as high as possible.
Each sale becomes the floor for the next. The greater the value of one team, the greater the value of all teams.
But that approach comes with a very real risk, for the franchise and for its fans. There’s no guarantee that the person who makes the biggest offer will be the best owner.
No NFL owner is required to know anything about football. Or, more accurately, to know what they don’t know and to rely on others who do.
Folks who have made their fortunes in other businesses often believe the skills are transferable to running a football team. There’s a temptation to meddle.
From the owner’s perspective, it’s not really meddling. The team belongs to the owner. The owner can do whatever the owner wants.
The last team that was sold — the Commanders in 2023 — was broken. Josh Harris and his partners had plenty of work to do to undo the damage of the Daniel Snyder years.
The Seahawks are anything but broken. They have one of the best overall operations in all of the NFL.
Still, that doesn’t mean the new owner will sit back and trust the in-house experts. It’s impossible to even begin to predict what the new owner will do until the identity of the new owner is known. Even then, how the new owner will run the team won’t become obvious until the new owner gets the keys to the car and takes it out for a spin.
Hopefully for the Seahawks, the new owner will take a look around Lumen Field on the night they hang their second banner and see the proverbial light. It ain’t broke. Don’t try to fix it.
That will likely be easier said than done. Paying $10 billion or more for the team will give the new owner the right to make any and all changes the new owner sees fit.
Time will tell whether the new owner opts to stick with the status quo, or whether the new owner will believe their presence and active involvement will only make things better.
Ownership matters. Bad teams stay bad because of bad owners. Good teams stay good because of good owners.
The Seahawks have been a good team for most of this century because they had a good owner. Currently, every Seahawks fan should hope that the person who shows up with the biggest bag of cash will be a good owner, too.
