Jody Allen Says Neither The Portland Trail Blazers Nor The Seattle Seahawks Are For Sale

NBA: Miami Heat at Portland Trail Blazers
Jaime Valdez-USA TODAY Sports

Both the Seattle Seahawks and the Portland Trail Blazers announced on Tuesday that there would be no sale of either team happening, and no discussions are currently taking place.

This comes after The New York Times reported that Nike founder Phil Knight allegedly made a bid to acquire the Trail Blazers earlier this year.

Since her brother Paul G. Allen’s death in 2018, Jody Allen has served as the Seahawks and Blazers chair, and trustee of her brother’s trust.

Although there could be a future sale, Allen insists there is no rush to sell either team.

The 1997 statute that funded the construction of the Seahawks stadium in Seattle, according to Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, states that if the team is sold before May 2024, the state of Washington will be entitled to 10% of the total revenues, reports Pro Football Talk.

“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,” Allen said in her statement. “There is no pre-ordained timeline by which the teams must be sold.”

There is not much that changes with this statement, as any rumblings of Knight buying the Blazers quieted quickly following the NY Times report.

It does confirm, however, that although Allen will go into philanthropy at some point, and sell the teams, she is in no rush to do so.

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