The vote to approve of the pending Seahawks sale is forthcoming. An important development has taken place indicating it will not meet any challenges.
A group led by Vinod Khosla reached agreement last month on a deal to purchase the reigning Super Bowl champions for $9.61 billion. An NFL memo sent to its teams pointed to August 26 as the scheduled date for a vote to be taken on green-lighting the move. As is standard practice in these situations, the league’s finance committee and ownership policy committee met to provide a recommendation to owners.
To no surprise, Mark Maske of Front Office Sports reports the committees have unanimously voted in favor of the sale. They will recommend owners finalize approval during next week’s vote as a result. At least 24 of the NFL’s 32 owners will need to vote in favor of the deal for it to move forward. Maske and colleague Ben Horney add the sale is likely to officially close in September.
Paul Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 and remained the franchise’s controlling owner until his passing in 2018. His sister Jody has served as owner since then, but Paul’s will required a sale of the Seahawks (as well as the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers) to take place within a specified timeframe following his death. The Blazers have already been sold, and bidders for the Seahawks began lining up shortly after the Super Bowl.
The Khosla group eventually became one of two finalists for the purchase. Allen’s preferred option was the Khosla family taking over, reportedly in part due to the fact Neeru Kholsa will operate as Seattle’s new controlling owner. Details on who else makes up the Khosla group are still not available, although it is known Vinod and Neeru’s son Neal is expected to also play a key role in the new ownership arrangement.
Vinod Khosla is currently a minority owner of the 49ers. He will of course be required to divest from that franchise as part of the deal to purchase the Seahawks, but there are no perceived challenges regarding that taking place.
