The Lombardi Trophy is back with the Seattle Seahawks after their dominant Super Bowl LX win. Rumors of an impending sale have many 12s fearful that it would destroy their winning philosophy. Happily, there's a solution that would put those fears to rest.
The rumor mill has been working overtime concerning a possible sale of the new NFL champions, your Seahawks. There were reports that the league had fined the organization five million dollars for not having already sold the team. Others claimed that the league would force the team to sell. Both the team and the league have stated that the fine and forced sale are false.
Any pending sale stems from the directive in the late Paul Allen's will that the Seahawks (and Portland Blazers) would be sold, with all proceeds to be distributed to charitable organizations. The estate, led by Allen's sister Jody, agreed to sell the Blazers to an investment group led by Tom Dundon.
The sale isn't expected to be completed until this March at the earliest. Dundon, who owns the NHL Carolina Hurricanes, will be joined by billionaire partners Andrew and Peggy Cherng. And that leads me to the part we 12s care about.
MacKenzie Scott and Melinda Gates are the perfect Seattle Seahawks owners
That is, they could be with the addition of one more member of the group. We'll get to the third and most important player soon enough. Both Scott and Davis are billionaire philanthropists. And both of those terms are equally important regarding their ability and possible motivation to purchase the Seahawks.
More than anything, I mentioned Dundon and the Cherngs because of their net worth. Dundon reportedly has between one and two billion dollars, while the Cherngs stack up at some $7.5 billion. Since the Blazers' reported sale price is between $4 and $4.25 billion, you can see why Dundon needed to bring in partners.
That wouldn't be true for either Scott or Gates. Gates is estimated to have a cool $40 billion to her name, while Gates trails with a paltry $30 billion. The Seahawks' valuation reportedly jumped to as much as $11 billion with their convincing title win, per Mike Florio.
Still, either billionaire could easily buy the team outright. Their fortunes aren't in the ballpark of Jeff Bezos or Larry Ellison, but nobody wants guys like that to take over.
It isn't exactly a gamble to buy an NFL team, but why tie up such a huge chunk of your capital when there is a partner with very similar goals and values right there in the same state? I have no idea if either of the women is a particular fan of the Seahawks or football in general. But the NFL does generate money and lots of it, and they do appreciate that.
More importantly, they are both philanthropists. And a stipulation of any sale requires the proceeds to go to charity. That's a win-win for Scott and Gates. Their purchase would, in essence, be a massive donation.
They aren't exactly going to write this one off on their taxes, as they'll receive a pretty valuable commodity in return. But the prospect of each putting around $5 billion toward deserving organizations would certainly meet their goals.
Now here's the sweetener. Let's assume neither has any interest in football. Neither grew up like the Colts CEO, Carlie Irsay-Gordon, who spent 13 years as the Vice-chair of the organization under her father and former owner, the late Jim Irsay. Irsay-Gordon is immersed in the game; neither of the prospective owners shares that knowledge, and probably not the passion.
But all 12s know someone who does. Jody Allen may not have been the original owner of the team, but she was the CEO of Vulcan, Inc., basically the investment and project management wing of Paul Allen's businesses. She was heavily involved in the finances of building Lumen Field and even had a strong hand in Allen's initial interest in purchasing the Seahawks nearly 30 years ago.
Since Jody Allen took the reins of the team, she made one very big move. Although it was painful in many ways, she saw that it was time to move on from legendary coach Pete Carroll. That move seems to have worked out pretty well.
Other than that, she's been a very dedicated and very hands-off owner. Not exactly the meddling Jerry Jones type, nor the Cleveland Browns type. You know, the NFL village idiot, Jimmy Haslam.
Most importantly for the 12s, Allen is not interested in making day-to-day decisions about the team and role-playing being a coach and general manager, unlike Jones. And unlike Haslam, she has the intelligence to carefully look for the best people, hire them, and then let them do their jobs. All without forcing a trade for a public relations nightmare. Who, by the way, has been almost as bad a player as he is a person.
That is exactly why Scott and Gates should ask Allen to stay on as the managing partner of the Seahawks. Plus the fact that she's reportedly worth some $20 billion. That does include the value of the team, which, until Sunday, was generally estimated to be around $6 to $7 billion. So she'd still have a nice little nest egg of about $14 billion to play with.
If I were Scott and Gates, I'd jump at the chance to buy the Seahawks and cut Allen into the deal. Just let her buy in for 10 percent. At that latest estimated sale price, that puts their investment at, oh, $5 billion each, with Jody Allen covering the last billion. Heck, she probably has that stashed under the mattress.
Another argument for this fantasy deal becoming reality is that all three women seem to have their values aligned. Like Scott and Gates, Jody Allen is well-known for her charitable endeavors. She has reportedly given away nearly $470 million through the family foundation and has contributed to many organizations in the Seattle area.
I'll happily admit that while researching this article, I came across a thread on Reddit discussing a partnership between Melinda Gates and Mackenzie Scott to do just this: buy the Seahawks. I'm a bit sad that what I thought was an original idea wasn't so original after all. But I'm about 1,000 times happier that the idea is already out there, percolating in the zeitgeist. Please, make this happen.