4 minSports
Vinod Khosla's family buys Seattle Seahawks for record $9.6 billion
The NFL approved Vinod Khosla's family bid to purchase the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion, with the venture capitalist acknowledging he has much to learn about football.
The NFL's 31 other owners unanimously approved Vinod Khosla's family bid to buy the Seattle Seahawks for a record $9.6 billion on Wednesday, making the venture capitalist the latest billionaire to join the league's ownership ranks without a deep background in football.
Khosla, best known for co-founding Sun Microsystems, serving as a partner at Kleiner Perkins, and founding Khosla Ventures, is worth a reported $13.7 billion. He acknowledged his limited football knowledge during a press conference, saying he plans to take a long-term approach and remain in learning mode.
"We're huge fans of football," Khosla said, "and these opportunities, especially Super Bowl winning teams, seldom come along, so we were very excited to have the opportunity."
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell welcomed Khosla with a nod to the team's recent success. "You have great timing," Goodell said. "It's not very often you can buy a Super Bowl championship team, but you've done that. Many of our owners struggle to find ways to get into a Super Bowl and win a trophy, and you'll be walking into your new building shortly with a fresh, shiny trophy there for you."
The Seahawks won the Super Bowl last season with a 14-3 record, though Super Bowl MVP Kenneth Walker missed the team's ring ceremony after signing a $45 million deal with the Kansas City Chiefs.
Khosla, born in India in 1955, said the task ahead is straightforward. "The task ahead is actually pretty simple — keep the winning streak alive, get another Super Bowl," he said. "That's simple. In general, our approach is generally going to be long-term focused, that's our inclination always. So, keep winning, take a long-term approach, and learn a lot. We don't know enough. And the other owners have been incredibly welcoming and willing to teach us, so we'll learn a lot."
The sale reflects how much the NFL has changed since its founding, when the league was run by football men who often owned and coached teams, as George Halas and Paul Brown did. Those early figures passed their teams down to families whose primary business was football.
Since the turn of the century, however, the ownership pool has shifted to mostly billionaires with minimal football credentials. Because the ability to pay has become the most important qualification for purchase, the league has seen owners like Stephen Ross, a real estate developer who has not built a champion in Miami, and Jimmy Haslam, who founded a truck stop empire but has not found a quarterback in Cleveland.
Dan Snyder, who made his fortune in marketing and communication, owned the Washington Redskins and Commanders and oversaw a legacy franchise that faced an embarrassing congressional hearing during his tenure.
Khosla does not immediately suggest he will follow the pattern of other billionaires who have struggled, but he does not claim to be a football man either. He said he will rely on the team's management and the guidance of other owners as he transitions into his new role.
"We'll learn from management and see what they are recommending," Khosla said. "We'll just be in learning mode for quite some time."
