According to a report from Front Office Sports published Thursday, two groups have separated themselves as the leading contenders to purchase the Seattle Seahawks, the current Super Bowl champions.
The first group is led by Aditya Mittal, a current minority owner of the Boston Celtics, and Wyc Grousbeck, a former Celtics governor. The second group is spearheaded by Vinod Khosla, a minor investor in the San Francisco 49ers. Front Office Sports also noted that one of the two bidding groups includes a former Seahawks player, though no additional details were provided.
Should the Khosla family ultimately win the bid, they would be required to divest the minority stake in the 49ers that they picked up last spring. According to Forbes, Vinod Khosla — who founded the venture-capital firm Khosla Ventures — has a personal net worth of roughly $14 billion.
Grousbeck’s individual net worth has not been publicly confirmed, though his family’s net worth is estimated at approximately $2.2 billion by Forbes. Mittal’s personal fortune is similarly not well-documented, but his family’s net worth has been pegged at over $17 billion by Forbes. Mittal serves as CEO of ArcelorMittal, an Indian steel company.
During the $6.1 billion sale of the Celtics to a group led by Bill Chisholm last August, Mittal contributed $1 billion to the deal. Front Office Sports reported at that time that Mittal was set to become the second-largest stakeholder in the Celtics and could potentially serve as their alternate governor in the future.
While it looks like the race has narrowed to these two groups, the door remains open for a surprise late entry. A similar situation unfolded during the 2014 sale of the Los Angeles Clippers, when Steve Ballmer stepped in with a last-minute $2 billion offer that was ultimately accepted.
What is known is that the field of potential buyers has been trimmed following a recent submission deadline. Front Office Sports reported that a status update on the sale process is expected sometime next month.
Canadian billionaire Steve Apostolopoulos and Todd Boehly — who co-owns the Los Angeles Dodgers, Los Angeles Lakers, and Chelsea FC — are both said to be out of contention. ESPN first reported Apostolopoulos’s potential interest, while Sportico was first to report Khosla’s involvement and the formation of the Mittal-Grousbeck bid.
A spokesperson for the Paul G. Allen Estate, which is overseeing the sale of the team, offered little in the way of detail. “There is no news to share about the sale process,” the representative told Front Office Sports.
Analysts estimate the final sale price for the Seahawks could land somewhere between $8 billion and $10 billion — or potentially even higher. Representatives for Allen & Co., the investment bank managing the sale, declined to comment, as did the NFL and Latham & Watkins, the legal firm advising the Allen Estate. Spokespersons for Mittal, Grousbeck, Khosla, Boehly, and Apostolopoulos did not respond to requests for comment.
