NFL Committees Clear $9.6 Billion Seahawks Sale to Khosla Family

The Seattle Seahawks are five days away from having a new owner, and the price tag is going to make your eyes water.

The NFL's finance committee and ownership policy committee voted unanimously Thursday to recommend approval of the sale of the Seahawks to a group led by venture capitalist Vinod Khosla for $9.612 billion, according to a report by Mike Florio at NBC Sports citing Front Office Sports. A full vote of the league's 32 owners is scheduled for Wednesday, August 26, in Atlanta.

That number, $9.612 billion, is not a typo. As reported by ESPN and confirmed by Sportico, it would shatter the previous NFL record of $6.05 billion that a group led by Josh Harris paid for the Washington Commanders in 2023. It puts the Seahawks in rare air globally, approaching the $10 billion Mark Walter paid for the Los Angeles Lakers.

Khosla is the founder of Khosla Ventures, a Silicon Valley firm with early-stage investments in OpenAI, DoorDash, and Instacart, and carries an estimated net worth of $13.8 billion according to Forbes. He's been a limited partner in the San Francisco 49ers since 2025, which means he already cleared the league's background process once. Convenient. As part of the Seahawks deal, the family is required to sell off that 49ers stake.

Here's the wrinkle that matters for how this franchise actually runs: Vinod Khosla is not the controlling owner. His wife, Neeru Khosla, holds that role, according to a memo sent by the NFL to its clubs and reviewed by Sportico. Neeru Khosla is the co-founder and chair of the CK12 Foundation, an education nonprofit. Their son Neal Khosla, CEO of the health AI company Curai, will also carry a leadership role. The full composition of the ownership group has not been disclosed.

The team being handed over is not a rebuilding project. Seattle just won its second Super Bowl in franchise history, beating the New England Patriots in February. Head coach Mike Macdonald and general manager John Schneider remain in place. The Khosla family is buying a defending champion with its front-office structure intact, which almost never happens at this price point in any sport.

The seller is the estate of Paul Allen, the Microsoft co-founder who bought the Seahawks in 1997 for $194 million and, by most accounts, saved the franchise from relocation. Allen died in 2018. His sister Jody Allen has run the organization since, including through the Super Bowl run this past February. The estate announced back in February that a sale process was underway, and investment bank Allen & Company and law firm Latham & Watkins ran it. Khosla's group beat out a handful of competing bidders, including one led by steel billionaire Aditya Mittal, according to Sportico.

The Allen estate's simultaneous sale of the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, meanwhile, is still awaiting approval from the NBA Board of Governors.

Two unanimous committee votes is about as clean a runway as you get in NFL ownership circles. Barring something unusual before August 26, the Seahawks will open their title defense under a new ownership structure, with a tech family that has never run a football team holding the keys to one of the league's most valuable franchises. The 32 owners will rubber-stamp it, collect their appreciation for the franchise value floor just got raised, and go back to their hotels. That's how this works.

Sources cited:
- NBC Sports / ProFootballTalk (Mike Florio) (https://www.nbcsports.com/nfl/profootballtalk/rumor-mill/news/nfl-committees-recommend-approval-of-seahawks-sale-to-vinod-khosla)
- ESPN (https://www.espn.com/nfl/story/_/id/49337716/khosla-led-group-agrees-buy-seahawks-sources-say-96-billion)
- Sportico (https://www.sportico.com/business/team-sales/2026/seattle-seahawks-sale-vinod-khosla-owner-billions-1234938616/)
- NFL.com (https://www.nfl.com/news/seattle-seahawks-announce-sale-of-franchise-to-khosla-family)
- Heavy.com (https://heavy.com/sports/nfl/seattle-seahawks/seahawks-sale-khosla-family-nfl-approval-vote/)