Allen also owned the Seahawks and a 25% stake in the Sounders, but neither of those will be up for sale.
SEATTLE — The owners of the Seattle Seahawks put up a franchise for sale on Tuesday, but it was not the Pacific Northwest’s only National Football League (NFL) franchise.
The estate of Paul Allen, who co-founded Microsoft, announced Tuesday that it is initiating the sale process for the Portland Trail Blazers of the National Basketball Association (NBA). Allen’s estate, now managed by his sister Jody, also owns the Seahawks and 25% of the Seattle Sounders, but neither of those stakes will be up for sale at this time.
The statement cites the directive in Allen’s will that his sports holdings eventually be sold, with all proceeds earmarked for philanthropy. The statement does indicate that the sale process should be expected to last into the 2025-26 basketball season, which will begin in the fall.
It’s unlikely the Allen estate would want to begin exploring a sale of the Seahawks until, at the very least, after this Trail Blazers transaction goes through. Allen purchased the Seahawks in 1997 after the previous owner attempted to move the franchise out of Seattle.
The Trail Blazers going up for sale could also impact the timeline for the NBA returning to Seattle. NBA Commissioner Adam Silver has previously said he wanted the sales of the Boston Celtics and Minnesota Timberwolves to be formally approved before the league can seriously entertain expansion.
Those two sales have yet to be signed off on by the league’s Board of Governors, and now there will be a third team available. Reports indicate the league’s owners want those sales finalized, especially the Celtics’ massive pricetag, so they can pinpoint a potential expansion fee for any new teams joining the league. ESPN previously reported that some insiders believe the expansion fee could be up to $5 billion. The Celtics’ sale did set a new league record for a purchase price, but it is unlikely the Trail Blazers would fetch nearly that much from a new ownership group.
Silver did speak on satellite radio Tuesday, per The Seattle Times’ Tim Booth, and apparently suggested when league owners will first formally discuss expansion.
“I think at this point, we have a NBA board meeting in July in Las Vegas and my sense is (expansion) will be on the agenda to discuss with full ownership now for the 30 teams to get directly the existing owners views on potential expansion and how we would begin furthering the study of all the implications.”
Seattle fans have been hearing rumblings of the NBA returning for decades since the Supersonics relocated in 2008. Even if owners begin discussing expansion and agree on Seattle as a desirable city for a new franchise, it will take several years for finances to be put together and an organization to be assembled.
For now, not much will change for the two Seattle teams owned fully or in part by the Allen estate. However, the process of selling off the sports holdings has begun officially, and the Seahawks is the most valuable of those assets.
