Pondering future of Seahawks
Allen’s death could mean NFL team will be for sale
NEW YORK – Of course, the Seahawks will stay in Seattle.
That was no-brainer sentiment as the NFL meetings wrapped up on Wednesday, two days after Seahawks owner Paul Allen, 65, succumbed to complications from non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
“I’m just guessing,” Colts owner Jim Irsay told reporters, “but I would have to believe his wishes are going to be that whoever buys it retains that market as where the team will stay.” Whoever buys it.
That’s where the mystery rests when it come to the future of the Seahawks.
Will the team stay in the family, passed on to Allen’s sister, Jody?
Is the franchise destined to hit the open market?
If the team is sold, who might be a likely buyer?
NFL owners are required to submit a succession plan to the league that details specifically how ownership of their franchises are handled upon the death of the primary owner.
Stipulations outlined in Allen’s plan have not been revealed publicly, and
Commissioner Roger Goodell maintained that it wasn’t an item discussed during the two-day meetings.
“We think it’s inappropriate at this point in time to be having those discussions,” Goodell said.
Still, given Allen’s affinity for the Pacific Northwest — he saved the franchise from moving from Seattle to Anaheim, California, upon buying the team for $194 million in 1997 — it is inconceivable he would not have devised a plan that ensured the long-term future in what has become a hotbed NFL market.
Allen, the Microsoft co-founder, revered philanthropist and also owner of the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, never married and had no children.
It would be cool that in the fashion of the community-owned Green Bay Packers, the Seahawks could be owned by “The 12s” — another of Allen’s many legacies, a tag that pays homage to the rabid fans and an environment that provides one of the best (and loudest) home-field advantages in the NFL.
But that’s not realistic in the world of NFL billion-ness. The Packers ownership was a one-shot exception. NFL ownership policy prohibits publicly selling shares in franchises and in fact mandates that the primary owner owns at least 30 percent of the team.
Also prohibited would be a sale that includes the condition that a buyer keeps the team in Seattle.
But before suspecting that the Seahawks would wind up in Oakland, California, St. Louis or San Diego, know that it would be just plain crazy to move a team that has grown to fuel one of the NFL’s most robust markets.
Besides, if the goal is to keep the team in Seattle, it can still be achieved by ex- tending the Seahawks’ long-term lease to operate CenturyLink Field. The existing lease expires in 2029, with options for an additional 20 years.
Perhaps Allen’s sister, Jody, previously CEO of his company Vulcan, will emerge as the next Seahawks owner. A divorced mother of three, she heads the Paul G. Allen Family Foundation. It’s unclear whether Allen has any interest in operating either the NFL or NBA franchises owned by her brother, and there are conflicting reports about such desires.
If the Seahawks are sold, one name sure to emerge as a potential suitor: Steve Ballmer, the former Microsoft CEO who purchased the Los Angeles Clippers in the aftermath of the Donald Sterling scandal.
Ballmer, who joined Microsoft as its first business manager, remained close to Allen. He tweeted this week that Allen had long urged him to buy an NBA franchise.
“That, too, changed my life for the better,” Ballmer’s tweet concluded.
It’s coincidental that NFL owners on Tuesday voted to scrap the cross-ownership policy that prevented them from owning non-NFL franchises in markets with NFL teams. That action has been in the works for a while. Yet now, it also wouldn’t prevent Ballmer from making a run at the Seahawks, provided the team is put on the market, while owning the Clippers.
During, the NFL meetings, it was apparent Allen’s imprint on fellow ownerswas steeped in respect. Although he was one of the NFL’s lowest-keyed owners and rarely attended league meetings (while represented by top team executives), a handful of the power brokers reflected on their impressions from the last meeting he attended, when owners settled the matter of the Los Angeles market in January 2016.
Kind of like when Allen talked, people listened. According to other owners, he helped swing the decision that resulted in the Rams’ return to Los Angeles, with his detailed questions about the merits of the deals and ultimate support of Rams owner Stan Kroenke’s plan.
“On a personal basis, I really valued his advice about the league and asked for it,” Cowboys owner Jerry Jones said. “There was a stature with him that really increased your credibility as a league.”