🏈 Who Will Buy the Seahawks? Bezos, Ellison, Zuckerberg Among Favorites

The last time an NFL franchise was sold, Josh Harris and his investment group purchased the Washington Commanders for a record $6.05 billion, and with the Paul G. Allen Estate selling the Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, that record is expected to be surpassed.

The reigning champs are expected to be sold for over $9 billion, but who will buy the Seahawks? 

Though a recent ESPN report suggested there isn't much interest thus far, billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Larry Ellison, and Mark Zuckerberg are the biggest favorites to purchase the team, according to prediction markets.

🟢 Who will buy the Seattle Seahawks? 

The favorite at Polymarket to buy the Seahawks.

💰 The billionaire buyers: Are any of the big names interested?

Jeff Bezos, Amazon (25%)

When the Commanders were for sale, Bezos' name was floating around, so it makes sense that one of the richest people on earth would be connected to an NFL franchise based in the city where he started Amazon in the mid-90s.

He's an obvious candidate given the Seahawks had initially been rumored to go for over $11 billion, and potentially cause a bidding war. That's a bidding war he could easily win, if he wanted to.

However, with ESPN's report that there's less interest than expected in the Seahawks and Bezos leaving Seattle for Miami in recent years, it comes as no surprise to hear that Bezos is uninterested in purchasing the team, according to journalist Dylan Byers.

"I’m reliably told that Jeff Bezos, who had been interested in acquiring the Washington Commanders, is not pursuing the Seahawks," said Byers.

Larry Ellison, Oracle (24%)

While Larry Ellison might not be as well-known publicly as Bezos or Zuckerberg, he's just as rich, and he's already used his money in the football world. Ellison, who co-founded Oracle in the 1970s, helped land Michigan the No. 1 recruit in the 2025 recruiting class, quarterback Bryce Underwood.

Ellison's wife, Jolin Zhu, is a Michigan alum, and the pair were integral to bringing Underwood to Ann Arbor via a multi-year NIL package reportedly worth between $10 and $12.5 million. Could Ellison take his football resume up several notches and become the newest NFL owner?

While he certainly has the money, it seems unlikely Ellison would buy the Seahawks, and there's been zero word on his interest. He doesn't have ties to Seattle - he grew up in New York City, went to college in the Midwest, and now lives in Florida - and he's already failed twice at buying a pro sports team. 

Ellison once tried to buy the Golden State Warriors in 2010, but flubbed his counteroffer and final offer and was beaten out by Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. He also said that in 2010, he was outbid for the New Orleans Hornets by the NBA when the league bought the bankrupt team.

Mark Zuckerberg, Meta/Facebook (15%)

There seems to be zero legs to this one, but for some reason Zuckerberg has more volume at Polymarket than any other potential Seahawks buyer. In early May, a Meta spokesperson tried to put to bed any rumors that Zuckerberg would purchase the Super Bowl champions.

“Glad we could intercept the rumors on this one: Mark is not making any investment or bid for the Seattle Seahawks,” a Meta spokesperson told Bloomberg.

Pacific Northwest local syndicate

There's always a chance that a group of well-known local millionaires, with the backing of a lesser-known local billionaire or two, could team up to buy the Seahawks as a group.

Imagine if Pearl Jam and Ken Griffey Jr. teamed up to buy the Seahawks in 1997 when Ken Behring sold the team to Allen. If you squint, that would sort of be like if Macklemore and Marshawn Lynch were the faces of a purchasing group this time around.

Could those two, along with, oh, I don't know, former Starbucks CEO Howard Schultz ($3.5 billion net worth), Seattle Mariners owner John Stanton ($2.4 billion net worth), and maybe even Bezos' ex-wife, MacKenzie Scott ($28.2 billion net worth), be the money behind a celebrity-led purchasing group?

Throw in a couple more famous Seahawks fans like actors Chris Pratt ($100 million net worth), Joel McHale ($14 million net worth), and Rainn Wilson ($12 million net worth), plus musicians Ariana Grande ($250 million net worth) and Sir Mix-A-Lot ($30 million net worth), and of course Bill Nye ($8 million net worth), and we might really have something here.

Other names to watch who aren't on the board

• Aditya Mittal ($24 billion net worth) and Wyc Grousbeck (Grousbeck family net worth is $2.2 billion)
• Vinod Khosla ($15.3 billion net worth)
• Steve Apostolopoulos ($9.4 billion net worth)

📈 The exploding cost of an NFL franchise: Recent team sales

The Seahawks are expected to sell for more than $9 billion, which would be a record price for an NFL team.