The sale of the Seattle Seahawks from the Estate of Paul G. Allen to the Khosla family was approved in a unanimous vote by NFL owners on Wednesday, bringing the transaction one big step closer to completion.
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell announced the sale following a meeting and vote by NFL owners in Atlanta, then introduced the Khosla family, which was represented by Vinod Khosla, Neeru Khosla, their son, Neal Khosla, and their daughter, Nina Khosla.
"It's a great honor to be here," Vinod Khosla said. "I do want to start by thanking Jody Allen and the Allen Trust for trusting us with this franchise. Roger has been incredibly helpful, and the NFL staff has been incredibly helpful in getting here. As Roger said, it's pretty simple when the team is functioning as well as it is today. How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl? So, we are incredibly lucky and humbled by this gift, I would say, from the Allen Trust. Having been to Lumen Field and watching the 12s everywhere, I do want to thank them for their passion and fervor, and the community in Seattle is incredibly valuable, so we hope to engage a lot more with the community also."
Vinod Khosla emphasized that, given the success of the franchise on and off the field, he and his family will be coming in to learn.
"The task ahead is actually pretty simple—keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl." Vinod Khosla said. "That's simple. In general, our approach is generally going to be long-term focused, that's our inclination always. So, keep winning, take a long-term approach, and learn a lot. We don't know enough, and the other owners have been incredibly welcoming and willing to teach us, so we'll learn a lot. We'll learn from management and see what they are recommending. We'll just be in learning mode for quite some time."
The Khosla family previously held a minority stake in the 49ers—Vinod and Neeru have lived in the same Bay Area home since 1986—and have been football fans for decades, taking their children to 49ers home games, so when the rare opportunity to purchase a team came up, particularly one with the pedigree of the Seahawks, it wasn't a difficult decision.
"We're huge fans of football, and these opportunities, especially Super Bowl winning teams, seldom come along, so we were very excited to have the opportunity," Vinod Khosla said. "And I've been tied to Seattle tech community for a long time, so it was pretty easy to make the jump."
Vinod Khosla also had a message to Seahawks fans, saying he was humbled to join them.
"I just want to say a big thank you for being such a passionate fanbase," he said. "It's actually pretty incredible, it's the best fanbase in the country of any NFL team. The 12s are such an iconic brand, it's hard to not be honored and humbled by inheriting that and being part of that fanbase."
