The reigning Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks, are officially entering a new era, and they’ve done it by shattering the NFL franchise sale record by more than $3.5 billion. After months of discussion around who would be the next owners of the team, the Paul G. Allen estate has officially handed over the keys.

The Seahawks have been purchased in a record-breaking deal by an ownership group led by Vinod Khosla, Sportico reported on Saturday.

Terms of the agreement have not been formally disclosed, but multiple outlets, including ESPN’s Adam Schefter, have put the price at $9.612 billion. That doesn’t just make it the most expensive sale in NFL history; it blows past the previous record by nearly 59%, smashing the $6.05 billion Josh Harris paid for the Washington Commanders in July 2023 by roughly $3.55 billion.

The sale is still pending league approval. NFL owners are expected to vote as early as Aug. 26, after the deal first clears the league’s finance committee, meaning the Allen estate has agreed to hand over the franchise, but hasn’t done so just yet.

“We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,” Vinod Khosla announced in an official statement on behalf of the Khosla family. “We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere.”

Khosla also confirmed the news on X: “Excited to be part of this great franchise. Also excited to see the money all go to a non-profit. No other comments till sale is final.”

Contrary to how the deal has been framed in some early reports, Vinod Khosla won’t actually be the Seahawks’ controlling owner. Per a memo the NFL sent to all 32 clubs Saturday, that role goes to his wife, Neeru Khosla, while their son, Neal, is expected to take on “a significant leadership role” within the ownership group.

This is now the most expensive NFL team sale in league history, topping the Washington Commanders‘ $6.05 billion price tag from 2023. It’s also the second-most expensive sale in North American sports, trailing only the $10 billion Mark Walter paid for the NBA’s Los Angeles Lakers in 2025, and for context, the Seahawks were valued at just $6.59 billion in last year’s Sportico franchise rankings, well below what they ultimately fetched.

The Khosla family is expected to give up its minority stake in the San Francisco 49ers, which Vinod Khosla purchased in 2025 for roughly 3.1% of the team at a valuation north of $8.5 billion.

Front Office Sports had reported that the Khosla-led group had only one real competitor for the Seahawks: a bid fronted by Aditya Mittal, a minority owner of the Boston Celtics, and Wyc Grousbeck, the Celtics’ former controlling owner. Mittal had put roughly $1 billion into the 2025 Celtics ownership change, his first major move into U.S. sports. A separate report had suggested a former Seahawks player might be part of the ownership mix, but a source later told the Seattle Times that ultimately, that wasn’t the case.

Legal advisory firm Latham & Watkins represented the Allen estate in the transaction.

The late Paul Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 for $194 million, buying the team from Ken Behring after Behring had all but finalized a move of the franchise to Anaheim. Local officials courted Allen to step in, and Seattle-area voters approved a measure to help fund what’s now Lumen Field, sealing the deal. Allen owned the team until his death in 2018. His sister, Jody, was named executor of his estate and has run the franchise in his absence ever since.

The sale wasn’t unexpected; Allen’s will directed that his sports holdings eventually be sold, with the proceeds going to charity, largely through the Paul G. Allen Foundation. The estate formally kicked off the sale process on Feb. 18, less than a month after the Seahawks beat the New England Patriots 29-13 in Super Bowl 60. Along similar lines, Allen’s other major sports asset, the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers, was recently sold for $4.1 billion to a group led by Tom Dundon.

Fittingly, the Seahawks are scheduled to open the new season by hosting the Patriots on Sept. 9, the same team they beat for the Lombardi Trophy just months ago, and the league is hoping the ownership transfer is finalized by then.

What do we know about new Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla?

Vinod Khosla is an Indian-origin venture capitalist and founder of Khosla Ventures. He began as a tech entrepreneur, co-founding Sun Microsystems in 1982 after earning his MBA at Stanford. He later spent time at Kleiner Perkins before launching Khosla Ventures in 2004. The firm’s portfolio includes OpenAI, DoorDash, Affirm, Opendoor, and Instacart.

Per Forbes, Khosla’s net worth stands at $13.7 billion. He was ranked No. 1 on Forbes’ 2026 Midas list, his 19th appearance on it, largely on the strength of Khosla Ventures being the first institutional investor in OpenAI back in 2019, when it was still a nonprofit research lab. OpenAI’s post-money valuation has since climbed to $852 billion, following a record $122 billion funding round in March 2026.

Neeru Khosla, the soon-to-be controlling owner, is an educator and entrepreneur who co-founded and chairs the CK12 Foundation, a nonprofit focused on free educational content, and holds a master’s degree in molecular biology from San Jose State. Neal Khosla, a Stanford graduate, is CEO of Curai Health, an AI-driven virtual healthcare company, and Forbes estimated his own net worth at $15.6 billion in May, notably higher than his father’s.

Vinod Khosla is a resident of California. He and his son, Neal, are longtime 49ers fans; Vinod revealed during the 49ers Horizon summit last year that they had season passes to games when Neal was only five years old.

The overlap with the 49ers adds a unique layer to this story, as the Seahawks and 49ers are division rivals. Seattle actually beat Khosla’s 49ers in the Divisional Round on its way to the Super Bowl 60 title, and currently leads the all-time rivalry 33-24 with a two-game winning streak.