Jody Allen, the de facto owner of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and NBA's Portland Trail Blazers. /CFP
Jody Allen, the de facto owner of the NFL's Seattle Seahawks and NBA's Portland Trail Blazers, on Tuesday told reporters that nether team is for sale at the moment.
Jody Allen was responding to the recent reports by ESPN about Nike founder Phil Knight and Los Angeles Dodgers part-owner Alan Smolinsky offering more than $2 billion to buy the Trail Blazers. The team is owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust and Jody Allen became its trustee since Paul Allen, the owner of the teams and also Microsoft's co-founder passed away in 2018.
"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," Jody Allen said in a statement, "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."
Pete Carroll, head coach of the Seattle Seahawks. /CFP
"She's never entertained that thought at all. I haven't heard her say that at all," Seahawks head coach Pete Carroll said in June.
However, Jody Allen didn't rule out the possibility to sell the two teams in the future. "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," she said in the statement.
Forbes valued the Seahawks at $3.5 billion last year, the 12th-highest in the NFL. About a month ago, the Denver Broncos, which were valued $250 million more than the Seahawks by Forbes in 2021, were sold at $4.65 billion. The value of the Trail Blazers was calculated at $2.05 billion by Forbes last year.
Damian Lillard of the Portland Trail Blazers. /CFP
Jody Allen said the focus of her and the teams "is on winning." The Trail Blazers made several big moves during the offseason. They traded to land Jerami Grant, gave Anfernee Simmons a four-year, $100 million contract extension and kept Jusuf Nurkic with a four year, $70 million deal. They are not a championship contender yet, but have already stepped out from their dark days.
By contrast, the Seahawks traded nine-time Pro-Bowl quarterback Russell Wilson to the Broncos for a pile of assets that can be used for franchise rebuilding. They will have a lot of work to do before being able to focus on winning again.