Who Owns The Seattle Seahawks And How'd They Get Rich Enough To Buy An NFL Team?

As the Seattle Seahawks prepare for their Super Bowl LX showdown against the New England Patriots, the spotlight won't just be on the players—it will be on the owners.

When the cameras periodically focus on the Patriots' owners' box, they will show Robert Kraft and his family rooting for Coach Mike Vrabel and star quarterback Drake Maye to win the franchise's seventh Super Bowl championship. For Kraft, this is the culmination of a journey that began in 1994, when he used a "poison pill" lease to keep the team in Massachusetts and sparked the greatest dynasty in sports history.

When the cameras focus on the Seahawks' owners' box, the scene will be a bit different. No individual actually owns the Seahawks. And no, they are not owned by a corporation or some bland private equity firm. Technically speaking, at this moment, the Seahawks are owned by an estate trust. Specifically, the Paul G. Allen Estate.

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From 1997 until his death in 2018, the Seahawks were owned by Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen.

Since Paul's death, his sister Jody Allen has acted as the chair and executor of the trust. But the clock is ticking. Per Paul's explicit final wishes, the team must eventually be sold, with every cent of the estimated $7-9 billion in proceeds going toward his massive philanthropic foundation.

It's not just the Seahawks. Paul ALSO owned the Portland Trailblazers. That team will also eventually be sold, with the proceeds going to the foundation.

The Microsoft Fortune: How Paul Allen Saved Seattle

Paul Allen co-founded Microsoft alongside Bill Gates in 1975 after the two childhood friends from Seattle dropped out of college to chase an audacious vision: a computer on every desk. While Gates took on the role of CEO and public face, Allen was the key technical mind in the company's early years, writing much of its early software and driving the deal to license MS-DOS to IBM.

Microsoft went public on March 13, 1986.

• Microsoft ended the day with a total market cap of $780 million.
• Bill Gates' 45% stake was worth $350 million.
• Paul Allen's 25% was worth $195 million
• Steve Ballmer's 8% was worth $51.5 million.

Allen left the company in 1983 after being diagnosed with Hodgkin's lymphoma. He spent the next 35 years indulging in all of his passions in a way that only a multi-billionaire with endless pockets could.

By the time of his death in 2018, Paul Allen's net worth was $20 billion.

The "Moving Van" Crisis

In the mid-90s, then-owner Ken Behring was so convinced the team couldn't survive in Seattle that he actually moved their headquarters to Southern California. He had the equipment packed in vans and was ready to become the "Los Angeles Seahawks."

Local fans were devastated until Paul Allen stepped in as the "White Knight." He didn't just buy the team; he demanded a partnership with the city to build a world-class stadium (now Lumen Field). He purchased the franchise for $194 million in 1997—a massive sum at the time, but a drop in the bucket for a man with a Microsoft fortune.

Since Paul Allen's death, the Seahawks have been in a state of "stable transition." Under Jody Allen's leadership, the team hasn't missed a beat on the field, hiring defensive mastermind Mike Macdonald and building a powerhouse roster led by quarterback Sam Darnold and All-Pro receiver Jaxon Smith-Njigba.

However, unlike Robert Kraft—who views the Patriots as a permanent family heirloom—the Allen family is legally obligated to let the Seahawks go. The trust is designed to liquidate Paul's assets to fund research into brain science, ocean health, and the arts.

The Estate Trust

The timing of Super Bowl LX couldn't be more perfect for the Allen Estate. If the Seahawks defeat the Patriots tomorrow, they won't just be hoisting a Lombardi Trophy—they'll be driving up the "asking price" for the next owner. With a young, championship-caliber roster and a brand-new coaching staff, the Seahawks are the "jewel" of the NFL market.

And it's not just the Seahawks that must be sold. Because his will mandates that the "vast majority" of his fortune go to philanthropy, the trust (led by his sister, Jody Allen) is legally required to eventually sell off almost everything he owned. Here are the other major assets on the chopping block or already out the door:

1. The Portland Trail Blazers (NBA)

As of late 2025/early 2026, the Trail Blazers are officially in the final stages of being sold. The estate reached an agreement to sell the team to a group led by Tom Dundon (owner of the NHL's Carolina Hurricanes) for a reported $4 billion. Like the Seahawks, this sale was a "when, not if" scenario, and it serves as the roadmap for how the Seahawks' transition will likely go after this Super Bowl.

2. A 25% Stake in the Seattle Sounders (MLS)

Paul Allen was a founding part-owner of the Sounders. While the team hasn't been put on the market as aggressively as the big-four sports franchises, the trust still holds this 25% minority stake. It is expected to be bundled into the broader liquidation of his sports holdings.

3. The "Vulcan" Real Estate Empire

Allen was the "Landlord of South Lake Union." Through his company, Vulcan Real Estate, he owned millions of square feet of prime Seattle real estate—the very buildings that house companies like Amazon, Google, and Meta.

The trust has been steadily selling off these office towers and residential complexes for years. In 2023 and 2024, several high-profile buildings were sold to institutional investors as part of the unwinding of Vulcan's commercial portfolio.

4. The World-Class Art Collection

Paul Allen owned one of the most valuable private art collections in history.

In November 2022, the estate held the "Visionary" auction at Christie's. It featured masterpieces by Botticelli, Cézanne, and Van Gogh. The auction brought in a record-breaking $1.6 billion, all of which was directed toward the philanthropic causes Paul specified.

5. Stratolaunch and Aerospace Assets

Allen was obsessed with the future of flight. He built Stratolaunch, which features the "Roc"—the world's largest airplane by wingspan, designed to launch rockets into orbit mid-flight.

Shortly after his death, the estate realized Stratolaunch was a "passion project" that was difficult to sustain without Paul's personal funding. The company and the massive aircraft were sold to Cerberus Capital Management in late 2019.

6. The "Toys": Yachts and Artifacts

• The Octopus: His famous 414-foot superyacht, which featured two submersibles and a recording studio, was sold in 2021 for approximately $278 million.
• Vintage Computers & Warplanes: Allen founded the Living Computers: Museum + Labs and the Flying Heritage & Combat Armor Museum. While some items were donated, the estate has been finding new homes for his collection of perfectly restored WWII-era fighter jets and rare computing hardware.