As all Seattle Seahawks fans likely know by now, the team is for sale. The team has hired a law firm to assist with that, and the expectation is that sometime in 2026, the Seahawks will have a new owner. That will not be Bill Gates, though, after he made it clear this week that owning a sports franchise is not in his future.
Speaking in a town hall for the Gates Foundation, the Microsoft founder was asked if he might entertain purchasing the team once owned by Paul Allen, another founder of Microsoft. Gates could have uttered a flat "no," but he went a few steps further.
According to a recording obtained by the Seattle Times, Gates jokingly told employees, "I noticed they only have men on their team, and I’m not sure I can go with that," before adding, "(Seattle) is a great city, but my owning a sports team will not be a part of how I spend my time."
Bill Gates confirms he will not be buying the Seattle Seahawks
Some might wince at the joke as Gates has recently been attacked to Jeffrey Epstein in a philanthropic sense, while disputing any connection to Epstein's crimes. Gates has had some other public issues recently, too, such as admitting to an affair, according to the Wall Street Journal.
None of that means he wouldn't be a good owner of a football team, of course. For the most part, Gates has a good reputation as the owner of a company, as opposed to another potential buyer of the Seahawks, Jeff Bezos.
Maybe either would allow the football people in Seattle to make football decisions, but the Seahawks have been fortunate in that their ownership group has mostly been drama-free. Fans certainly don't want the team to suddenly have a lot of attention paid to it for negative reasons.
Moreover, one of the reasons that the Seahawks are seen as one of the better organizations in the NFL is because of how well the employees are treated, from the players to the kitchen staff. Players have raved about how they are treated as human beings instead of tools to win football games.
That is why the whole process of the Seattle Seahawks being sold can be a bit uneasy for fans. General manager John Schneider and head coach Mike Macdonald have said multiple times that they are going about business as usual, as the current process of the sale has little effect on them. Let's hope that doesn't change with new ownership.