Tech investor Vinod Khosla and his family have reached an agreement to buy the Seattle Seahawks for $9.6 billion, according to people familiar with the deal. The Vinod Khosla Seahawks agreement is one of the largest valuations ever recorded for a professional sports team sold in a control transaction. It trails only the near $10 billion Mark Walter paid for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers.
Khosla, an India-born venture capitalist worth roughly $13.7 billion according to Forbes, is buying the defending Super Bowl champions from the estate of late owner Paul Allen. His group beat out several other bidders, including one led by billionaire Aditya Mittal, a member of one of India’s richest families. Variety’s sibling outlet Sportico first reported Khosla’s interest in the team back in May.
How the Vinod Khosla Seahawks ownership will work
Khosla’s wife, Neeru Khosla, will serve as the team’s control owner, according to a memo the NFL sent to its clubs on Saturday. Neeru Khosla co-founded and chairs the CK12 Foundation, an education non-profit. The couple’s son, Neal Khosla, chief executive of Curai, will also hold a leadership role with the franchise, the memo states.
It is not yet clear how the deal is being financed. Khosla did not immediately respond to a request for comment. The Allen estate said in a Saturday statement that the team had been sold to the Khosla family, without disclosing details of the deal structure. New NFL owners face strict financing rules. The league caps debt at $1.5 billion and requires the control owner to hold at least 30% of the equity. Institutional funds are limited to 10%, and the ownership group cannot exceed 24 minority investors.
A rare sale in a league that rarely sells
The Seahawks were valued at $6.59 billion in last year’s Sportico rankings, though the team was always expected to fetch more once a sale materialized. NFL teams change hands infrequently. This is only the third to formally hit the market in the past decade, since the league’s revenue-sharing structure guarantees each franchise a nine-figure annual profit.
Khosla co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982 and served as its first chief executive before starting his venture capital career at Kleiner Perkins. He launched Khosla Ventures in 2004, whose exits include Affirm, Opendoor and DoorDash. He was already an NFL investor, having joined a group of local buyers in the San Francisco 49ers last year at a valuation above $8.5 billion. Khosla reportedly took the largest stake among them, and he will need to sell that equity if the Seahawks deal closes, since the league does not allow crossover ownership.
Where the Seahawks price ranks among recent sports sales
The Seahawks deal does not top the record for an NFL control sale, a mark still held by the Commanders at $6.05 billion. The Lakers remain the most expensive control sale of any American sports franchise at $10 billion. A minority stake in the Miami Dolphins’ parent company recently sold to a Chinese billionaire at a $12.5 billion valuation. The Seahawks are being sold alongside the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, both assets of Allen’s estate since his 2018 death. The Trail Blazers sold earlier this year for $4.1 billion to a group led by Tom Dundon. Allen’s will directed that proceeds from his sports holdings benefit charitable causes. His sister, Jody Allen, has run both franchises as executor of his trust.
Mittal, who lost out on the Seahawks bid, contributed roughly $1 billion to the 2025 takeover of the Boston Celtics, his first major push into U.S. sports ownership. His Seahawks bidding group included former Celtics control owner Wyc Grousbeck. Latham & Watkins served as legal advisor to the Allen estate throughout the transaction.