TOP STORIES
The Sale
The Bids Are In. The List Is Short.
The first round of bids to buy the Seattle Seahawks came due Monday, June 29, and now that the envelopes are open, we can see exactly how many people are actually in the room. It’s three. Three groups for the most valuable prize American sports has put on the market in a while.
Per Bob Condotta of the Seattle Times, relaying Bloomberg’s reporting, the identified groups are one led by Wyc Grousbeck and Aditya Mittal (both alternate governors of the Boston Celtics), one led by Vinod Khosla, and one led by Todd Boehly, who already owns a piece of the Lakers and chairs Chelsea. Deep pockets, all of them. But three is not a stampede.
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Identified bidding groups in the first round, per Bloomberg via the Seattle Times.
That tracks with what ESPN reported back in the spring: the sale was drawing softer-than-expected interest. Part of the drag is Washington’s tax picture, which keeps thinning out the list of billionaires willing to plant a flag here. When your for-sale sign is the reigning Super Bowl champion and the line to make an offer is this manageable, that tells you something about how the ultra-rich are reading the fine print.
None of this touches the football. Schneider still runs the draft, Macdonald still runs the building, and the banner still went up. This is the part of the offseason that happens in law firms, not on the practice field, and the outcome won’t change who lines up against New England on September 9.
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The football part is settled. It’s the ownership box that’s still up for grabs, and the room bidding on it is smaller than the prize deserves.
SOURCES →
Camp Health
Josh Jones Says He’ll Be Full-Go for Camp
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That matters more than a routine health note. Hart was insurance bought specifically because Jones wasn’t practicing. If Jones opens camp on July 25 without restrictions, the veteran’s path to the 53-man roster gets a lot narrower, and the offensive line depth chart Seattle actually wants comes back into focus.
File it under the quiet good news that doesn’t make a highlight reel but keeps a championship line intact. Nobody’s promising anything until pads go on, but a healthy Jones is the version of this roster Seattle drew up in the spring.
SOURCES →
AROUND THE COOP
Around the Coop
The softer-than-expected interest in the sale keeps circling back to Washington’s tax picture scaring off potential buyers. The team’s on a Super Bowl banner and the auction still needs a bigger crowd. Somewhere a tax attorney is billing more hours than a position coach. ESPN
Bloomberg’s framing was blunt: the surge in NFL valuations is about to get stress-tested by what people are actually willing to pay for this franchise. The number everyone whispers is enormous. Now three groups have to prove they mean it. Bloomberg
Hard Knocks debuts August 11, meaning HBO’s cameras will be in the building before the sale is anywhere close to settled. The first Super Bowl champ ever featured, and the juiciest subplot might be happening in a conference room the show can’t film. Sports Video Group
NFC WEST SCHADENFREUDE REPORT
NINERS
While the Seahawks sort out a franchise-corner extension, San Francisco’s June content is a hypothetical about what a Dominick Puni extension might one day look like if he plays like his best half-season across a full year. Their own writeup notes he enters just Year 3 of a four-year deal on a $1.55 million cap number. Nothing to negotiate, nothing pressing, just a guard on a rookie contract they’re pre-worrying about. When the marquee offseason question is ‘what if the cheap player stays good,’ the summer is going great.
CARDINALS
Arizona announced its open practice dates for camp at State Farm Stadium, which is the kind of news you push hard when the actual football has been quiet. Mark your calendars, Arizona. The practices are free, and so is the January.
SEACHICKENS TRIVIA
Which sixth-round pick out of the 1991 draft led the entire NFL with 16.5 sacks in 1998, a Seattle single-season record that still stands, and retired second in franchise history in career sacks?
Tap to Reveal the Answer
Michael Sinclair. The three-time Pro Bowl defensive end put up 73.5 career sacks for the Seahawks, and his 16.5 in 1998 remain the franchise’s single-season record.
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Twenty-four days until the building fills up. The lawyers can take their time. The football never waits. — The Rooster