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Ownership
The Owners Voted 32-0 and the Khoslas Still Don’t Own the Seahawks
It needed 24 votes and got all of them. NFL owners met in Atlanta on Wednesday and unanimously approved the $9.612 billion sale of the Seattle Seahawks from Paul Allen’s estate to a group led by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla, his wife Neeru and their son Neal. The most expensive franchise transfer in the history of American professional football took roughly one afternoon and produced zero drama.
$9.612B
The highest price ever paid for an NFL franchise, topping the $6.05 billion the Commanders sold for in 2023.
Roger Goodell handled the welcome, and he did it with a shovel. “It’s not very often you can buy a Super Bowl championship team, but you’ve done that,” the commissioner said, per the Associated Press, adding that the family would be walking into their new building with a fresh trophy already sitting there. Vinod Khosla, standing between his wife and son, put it more plainly: “How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl?”
Neeru Khosla is slated to be the controlling owner. Neal is expected to take a significant leadership role. When the paperwork clears they’ll be the fourth ownership group in the franchise’s 51 years, following the Nordstrom-led original investors, Ken Behring, and 29 seasons under Paul Allen and then his estate.
And that’s the part nobody quite said out loud in Atlanta: this isn’t done. FOX 13 pointed out Wednesday night that approval and ownership are different things, and the family still has to unload the 3.1 percent stake in the San Francisco 49ers they bought in 2025 before the league lets them finish. Nine-point-six billion dollars, and the last hurdle is a sliver of the team down the coast.
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Nine-point-six billion dollars, and the last hurdle is a sliver of the team down the coast.
Jody Allen ran this franchise through a coaching change, a quarterback change, and a Super Bowl parade, and she is handing it off at the highest valuation any football team has ever carried. Whatever you thought of the estate years, that is not a bad exit.
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Roster
Trevon Diggs Cost Less Than a Bellevue Condo
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The upside is all incentives, up to $2 million of it. Diggs earns $500,000 for playing 42 percent of the defensive snaps, $750,000 at 50 percent, or $1 million at 60. There’s another $500,000 waiting for three interceptions and $750,000 for five. Play a lot and take the ball away, get paid. Sit on the bench, don’t.
$0
Guaranteed money in Diggs’ one-year Seattle contract.
Six days ago this front office committed $132 million to Devon Witherspoon. Wednesday it turned out the CB3 behind him is on a deal you could cover with a mid-round rookie’s signing bonus. That is either the sharpest bargain on the roster or a very polite way of saying prove it, and honestly it can be both.
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The Room
Macdonald Told His Team About O.J. Brigance and Had to Stop
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Macdonald spoke about what Brigance meant to him and had to pause partway through, standing in front of a room of grown men and losing the thread. “This is a full-circle life thing,” he said, per Yardbarker.
We spend a lot of words in here on green dots and snap counts and whether the fifth receiver survives Sunday. Every so often the show gets out of the way and reminds you the head coach is a person who had somebody teach him how to be one.
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AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
Patrick Mahomes will not play Friday night at Arrowhead, the first full preseason he’s gone through without appearing in a game. Kenneth Walker III is out too with a swollen ankle. The reunion tour has been rescheduled for Week 7, under the lights, where it belongs anyway. Seattle Sports
Andy Reid named rookie Garrett Nussmeier his starter for the finale, with Chris Oladokun splitting time if he clears concussion protocol. Seattle’s last live reps of August come against the understudies’ understudies. Learn what you can. Arrowhead Pride
With Emanuel Wilson’s hamstring keeping him off the field, Seattle re-signed running back Justin Jones on Saturday, two weeks after waiving him. He is here to absorb carries in Kansas City and then, in all likelihood, to leave again. Honest work. Seahawks.com
HBO finally opened the door on Macdonald’s leadership council, the group he name-checks in roughly every press conference and has never once identified. The same episode included the rookie talent show from the Nashville trip. Two reveals, and the meeting was the less humiliating one. Seahawks.com
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
RAMS
Los Angeles closes the preseason Thursday night against the Chargers, and two weeks out from a real game the Rams still had Myles Garrett (knee) and Puka Nacua (psoas) sitting out Monday’s practice as non-participants. McVay’s update on both was that he had no update. They spent a historic offseason building the deepest roster in football and are currently rehabbing the two players the whole thing is designed around. Depth is lovely. It is not a pass rusher.
NINERS
Vinod and Neal Khosla bought 3.1 percent of the San Francisco 49ers in 2025. On Wednesday they were unanimously approved to buy the Seattle Seahawks, and league rules require them to relinquish that 49ers stake to close the deal. So a minority partner walked through the Santa Clara building, looked around, and left to purchase the reigning Super Bowl champions instead. They’ll be mailing the shares back shortly.
CARDINALS
Arizona’s marquee moment of the week happened in Green Bay, where Mike LaFleur coached against his older brother Matt for the first time at a joint practice and the family gathered afterward for a photo, parents included, dressed in a split wardrobe so nobody got their feelings hurt. Genuinely sweet. Also the most attention the Cardinals have generated all month, and they had to borrow somebody else’s stadium to do it.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
This receiver’s first career NFL reception was a 44-yard grab in Super Bowl XLIX, and he finished that night with four catches for 109 yards and a touchdown. Who is he?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Chris Matthews. He entered the game without a single catch in the NFL, tied Julian Edelman for the game high in receiving yards, and every one of his four receptions came on a scoring drive.
THIS DAY IN SEAHAWKS HISTORY
2012
August 27, 2012
Pete Carroll Names a Third-Round Rookie His Starting Quarterback
On this date, Pete Carroll announced that Russell Wilson would start Week 1 — over Matt Flynn, who had signed that March expecting the job. Wilson then started every game the Seahawks played for the next decade. Fourteen years later to the day, the franchise gets sold for $9.612 billion. August 27 keeps its calendar full.
Got a Question? Ask It.
New owners, a $1.2 million cornerback, and cuts on Sunday. If something about this roster is keeping you up, send it in and I’ll answer it in the voice of a man who has been awake since 4:30 anyway.
Arrowhead tomorrow at five. Then the hard part. — The Rooster