By Jason Cruz
NORTHWEST ASIAN WEEKLY
The Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks kicked off the NFL season on Wednesday night against February’s opponent, the New England Patriots. But, prior to kickoff, the Seahawks’ new owners spoke to the media.
Vinod Khosla purchased the Seahawks for a reported $9.6 billion from Paul G. Allen Estate. The deal was finalized this week and approved by the NFL ownership last month at a meeting in Atlanta.
Khosla indicated that not much would change from the Allen ownership group. He stated that he would leave much of the on-field personnel decisions to coach Mike MacDonald and long-time General Manager John Schneider.
“How often do you get to buy a team that just won the Super Bowl?” quipped Khosla, who last attended a game at Lumen Field when he was a minority owner with the San Francisco 49ers last January. The 49ers lost to the Seahawks 41-6 on their way to the Super Bowl. He remarked how impressed he was with the fans and wants to maintain the same energy.
Paul Allen’s sister, Jodi, took stewardship of owning the Seahawks when the former co-founder of Microsoft passed away in 2018. Following a directive in Paul’s will, the franchise would be sold with the proceeds donated to charity.
Khosla, 71, flanked by his wife of 55 years, Neeru Khosla, and son, Neal, spoke to the assembled press hours before kickoff.
Neal gave the biggest news of the news conference for most Seahawks fans. Neal, who served as a football intern for the 49ers and will be vice chair of the Seahawks, indicated that the “throwback” white uniforms would make a return in 2027. The “throwback” is a reference to the Seahawks white uniforms from the 1990s.
Vinod did not address certain questions, such as the future plans of Lumen Field and how he would pick players, citing the fact he’s been the owner for only five days. Although they will own the team, the Khoslas, who reside in the Bay Area, did not commit to moving to Seattle. They have had their same house since 1986. “We will be here often,” he insisted. “We take commitments seriously,” added Neeru. She indicated a desire to work with the Seattle community on education.
Neeru will be the “controlling owner” of the Seahawks. An NFL memo announcing the ownership indicated that Neal “will be expected to have a significant leadership role in the ownership group.”
The Seahawks new owner is an Indian American entrepreneur and venture capitalist. Notably, he was the co-founder of Sun Microsystems and later established Khosla Ventures. Vinod earned a bachelor’s degree in electrical engineering. He immigrated to the United States from India when he was 21 to pursue a master’s degree in Biomedical Engineering at Carnegie Mellon. Notably, he was denied admittance twice from Stanford’s MBA program. Eventually, he was admitted and received his masters in business administration in 1980.
In addition to Vinod, he added 12 (in conformance with the Seahawks “12” branding) minority owners. He wrote on social media, “Excited for this very diverse group of owners: American, Canadian, Indian, Mexican …. hopefully makes NFL football an international game. And 12s everywhere. NFL is more fun than soccer though I enjoy soccer too!?”
Vinod admitted he first started watching the NFL due to his fandom for the Pittsburgh Steelers. He was a minority investor in the San Francisco 49ers. Per NFL rules, he is selling his ownership interest to take on the ownership reigns in Seattle. His financial investment into the Seahawks likely makes the reigning Super Bowl champions his new favorite team.
Jason can be reached newstips@nwasianweekly.com.
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