NFL owners approve $9.6billion sale of Seattle Seahawks as Super Bowl champions take step closer to new ownership ahead of new season

The Super Bowl champions are a step close to being officially under new ownership after the sale of the Seattle Seahawks was approved on Wednesday. 

A group of investors led by 71-year-old Indian billionaire Vinod Khosla has agreed to purchase the Super Bowl-champion Seahawks for $9.6 billion last month. 

The sale was officially approved this week when NFL owners unanimously voted in favor of the purchase, according to the Seattle Times. 

It paves the way for the sale of the team from the Paul G. Allen Estate to the group led by the Khosla family to soon become official.

The sale is now expected to become official in the coming weeks, ending the Allen family's 29-year tenure in Seattle. 

The price is a new high for the NFL, which has seen its sales record broken twice in the last four years: The Denver Broncos were sold by the Pat Bowlen Trust to the Walton-Penner family for $4.6 billion in 2022 and a year later, Daniel Snyder surrendered the Washington Commanders to Josh Harris' group for $6 billion.

The recent $12.5 billion sale of the NBA's Los Angeles Lakers from the Buss family to Mark Walter/TWG Global ranks first among all sports leagues.

'Following a thorough sales process run by Allen & Co., the Estate of Paul Allen has reached agreement to sell the Seattle Seahawks to the Khosla family and several limited partners, subject to membership review and approval,' read a memo sent to NFL teams and obtained by The Daily Mail in July. 

'Allen & Co. reported very robust interest in the Club throughout the process, with the Khosla group emerging as the Club's preferred buyer among multiple qualified bidders.'

Khosla is a San Francisco 49ers limited partner, but will now be required to divest from the team before his purchase of the Seahawks can be finalized. 

Khosla’s wife, Neeru, will serve as controlling owner, according to the memo, while their son Neal is also expected to have a leadership role.

Khosla is a tech investor who co-founded IT giant, Sun Microsystems, while Neal is the CEO of Curai, an AI healthcare company.

'We are honored to be entrusted as the next stewards of the Seattle Seahawks,’ Khosla said in a statement released by Allen’s estate. ‘We look forward to building on the winning legacy Paul Allen created and to earning the trust of the Seahawks organization and fans everywhere.’

The Super Bowl champions have been in the Allen family since 1997, when he bought the team for $194million from then-owner Ken Behring. Allen died at 65 in 2018 f rom complications of non-Hodgkin lymphoma.

Per Allen's instructions, his sister Jody has endeavored to sell both the Seahawks and his NBA team, the Portland Trail Blazers, which went to Carolina Hurricanes owner Tom Dundon for around $4 billion last September.

The Seahawks were officially put up for sale just days after Sam Darnold led them to victory over the New England Patriots in Super Bowl LX.