Jody Allen, chair of the Seattle Seahawks and trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust, said in a statement released Tuesday by the team that neither the Seahawks nor the NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, which the Allen Trust owns as well, are currently up for sale.
"As chair of both the Portland Trail Blazers and the Seattle Seahawks, my long-term focus is building championship teams that our communities are proud of," Allen said. "Like my brother Paul, I trust and expect our leaders and coaches to build winning teams that deliver results on and off the court and field.
"As we've stated before, neither of the teams is for sale and there are no sales discussions happening.
"A time will come when that changes given Paul's plans to dedicate the vast majority of his wealth to philanthropy, but estates of this size and complexity can take 10 to 20 years to wind down. There is no pre-ordained timeline by which the teams must be sold.
"Until then, my focus -- and that of our teams -- is on winning."
Jody Allen has served as Seahawks chair and the franchise's de facto owner since her brother and former team owner, Paul Allen, died in October 2018. Paul Allen, a co-founder of Microsoft, bought the Trail Blazers in 1988 and the Seahawks in 1997.
Questions about the future of Seahawks ownership have been raised this offseason after the Walton-Penner family entered into a purchase-sale agreement in June to purchase the Denver Broncos for a record $4.65 billion; the NFL's finance committee and three-fourths of the league's owners must still approve the deal. Jody Allen's statement also comes after Nike founder Phil Knight reportedly offered to purchase the Blazers for over $2 billion.
Asked during offseason workouts about the possibility of a sale, longtime Seahawks coach Pete Carroll said Jody Allen has "never entertained that thought at all."
The expectation is that the Seahawks will eventually be sold, as NFL Network Insider Ian Rapoport reported at the time of Paul Allen's death. As Jody Allen indicated Tuesday, however, now is not that time.
