Perhaps Jody should sell now

[Hawknight]

Just random thoughts and perhaps this has already been mentioned. No disrespect for Paul..RIP and grateful for what he did for this organization. Perhaps for change to take place is for Jody to sell the team now. I know she loves this team, but she's no Paul Allen. I'm just speaking out of my arse so don't mind me, but perhaps Jody is too busy or too sentimental to make the necessary changes this organization so badly needs right now. Something needs to give.

 

[Cyrus12]

I think there is a time period where she cannot sell because of certain estate clauses. Rest assured when she can sell itll be up for sale. Bezos will be the new owner. Hopefully he will not be a meddling owner who thinks he knows football. Up until then Pete and John run things here.

 

[James in PA]

May 2024 is the earliest she can sell without owing 10% of the sale to the state of Washington. My question is this: I've heard that she "must" sell the team at some point, but could she hold onto it another 15 years if she wanted to? Obviously, there aren't many better investments than owning an NFL franchise. Just imagine what these things are going to be worth 10 to 15 years from now!

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

While, it has been confirmed that the Seahawks and the Blazers will need to be sold, it hasn’t been fully confirmed (at least I haven’t heard of) if there are deadlines to do so.

I guess it could be entirely possible that Jody Allen can choose NOT to sell just to any willing buyer and she waits until there is a buyer she likes.

Hopefully, she’s a good judge of character and isn’t willing to just sell to the possible “highest” bidder. Or maybe that’s exactly the intent. Who knows.

I’m not sure what she ultimately wants versus what she ultimately is tasked to do.

Most posters here want some real changes and the biggest one would be the team being sold, but, Allen deciding who she is willing to sell too, that remains, unknown, and largely the biggest impact to the future success or even failures of the team.

The Seahawks remain in a potentially volatile or even dormant position with not much actually known of what will be in 3 years.

 

[CouchLogic]

Thete is no real reason for her to let it go asap. She's making money and doesn't have to do a damn thing. Pete will keep running it back every year, and as long as Merch/Ticjet sales are good, she's good. I've been saying this team has taken a page out of the Mariner's handbook. Jody is comfortable wirh the current siruation and is probably loving the cash.

 

[kidhawk]

Luckily Jody Allen is not hurting for cash so that shouldn’t be a mitigating factor in her decision to sell or not. I just hope when she does sell at whatever point in the future she keeps in mind that Paul bought the team to keep it in Seattle and she makes the team staying a part of the sales agreement.

 

[mistaowen]

There's no reason for her to sell at this point. Pete is basically CEO of the Seahawks with JS managing the operations, they are still 'competitive', and even though the past few weeks have had a large number of opposing fans the home games look sold out. She can be on cruise control as long as the team remains average and Pete doesn't retire.

 

[kidhawk]

There's no reason for her to sell at this point. Pete is basically CEO of the Seahawks with JS managing the operations, they are still 'competitive', and even though the past few weeks have had a large number of opposing fans the home games look sold out. She can be on cruise control as long as the team remains average and Pete doesn't retire.

They are sold out for the foreseeable future. Most tickets are being bought on secondary markets but there is a lengthy waitlist for season tickets.

 

[GemCity]

Although I’m settled in Ohio, they need to keep the team in Seattle.

Thats my biggest fear with the potential to sell.

We usually attend at least one Hawks game a year as we live within a 5 hour radius of Chicago, Detroit, Indianapolis, Pittsburg, Cleveland, Tennessee, and of course Cincinnati.

Every game we go to, the 12s are out in force.

I’d hate the team moving…if only for you folks up in the PNW.

 

[xray]

Is she even aware that she owns a football team ?

 

[OneLofaTatupu]

I hear there is a buyer interested - he’s out of Oklahoma or something

 

[renofox]

While, it has been confirmed that the Seahawks and the Blazers will need to be sold, it hasn’t been fully confirmed (at least I haven’t heard of) if there are deadlines to do so.

I guess it could be entirely possible that Jody Allen can choose NOT to sell just to any willing buyer and she waits until there is a buyer she likes.

Hopefully, she’s a good judge of character and isn’t willing to just sell to the possible “highest” bidder. Or maybe that’s exactly the intent. Who knows.

I’m not sure what she ultimately wants versus what she ultimately is tasked to do.

Most posters here want some real changes and the biggest one would be the team being sold, but, Allen deciding who she is willing to sell too, that remains, unknown, and largely the biggest impact to the future success or even failures of the team.

The Seahawks remain in a potentially volatile or even dormant position with not much actually known of what will be in 3 years.

I have been searching online to find the Estate and Trust documents but have been unable to do so. If anyone finds them please let me know.

I have quite a bit of experience in the corporate tax and legal fields so, although I am speculating, it is informed speculation.

From a business and tax perspective only (excluding personal reasons including ego) the primary motivation for purchasing a football team is not to make a profit. It is to provide a tax shelter. The balance sheet of a football team has very little (comparatively speaking) in the way of tangible assets or liabilities. When a team is purchased/transferred, ~95% of the purchase/transfer price/value is accounted for as Goodwill. This is depreciated (actually Amortized) over a period of years and taken as a tax deduction. A football team is a HUGE tax write-off. When the team is sold, taxes are paid at the much lower capital gains rate, but the additional value of the deferral of the taxes is huge in and of itself (time value of money).

In many cases, upon transfer to Estates and Trusts the asset (team) has it's tax basis rest to the CMV (current market value) WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY TAX.

***SPECULATION BEGINS HERE***
It is possible that the Estate/Trust can treat the team as a tax shelter with Billions of dollars worth of deductions to offset other Estate/Trust income. If this is the case, it could be a breach of fiduciary duty to sell the team before the other high-income producing assets have been liquidated.


tldr; It is very possible that Jody will not sell the team for many years.
***SPECULATION ENDS HERE***

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

I have been searching online to find the Estate and Trust documents but have been unable to do so. If anyone finds them please let me know.

I have quite a bit of experience in the corporate tax and legal fields so, although I am speculating, it is informed speculation.

From a business and tax perspective only (excluding personal reasons including ego) the primary motivation for purchasing a football team is not to make a profit. It is to provide a tax shelter. The balance sheet of a football team has very little (comparatively speaking) in the way of tangible assets or liabilities. When a team is purchased/transferred, ~95% of the purchase/transfer price/value is accounted for as Goodwill. This is depreciated (actually Amortized) over a period of years and taken as a tax deduction. A football team is a HUGE tax write-off. When the team is sold, taxes are paid at the much lower capital gains rate, but the additional value of the deferral of the taxes is huge in and of itself (time value of money).

In many cases, upon transfer to Estates and Trusts the asset (team) has it's tax basis rest to the CMV (current market value) WITHOUT HAVING TO PAY TAX.

***SPECULATION BEGINS HERE***
It is possible that the Estate/Trust can treat the team as a tax shelter with Billions of dollars worth of deductions to offset other Estate/Trust income. If this is the case, it could be a breach of fiduciary duty to sell the team before the other high-income producing assets have been liquidated.


tldr; It is very possible that Jody will not sell the team for many years.
***SPECULATION ENDS HERE***

I guess it’s very possible that the Seahawks and Blazers could very well be the last items up for sale within the entire estate portfolio…..who knows…

 

[knownone]

There isn't any reason to assume the team will be sold in the near future. And Jody is more than qualified to be the acting owner. Just because she's not doing what some fans want doesn't mean she's not involved.

 

[WarHawks]

I hope she and/or her team gets on .net and reads and understands the unrest among the fans. The Golden Tax Shelter Cow may turn to silver or bronze if changes aren't made soon.

 

[NoGain]

The only qualifications most owners have to own and run a franchise is that they have lots and lots of money. Jody is virtually a ghost to the fanbase, the press, the players. I don't even know how much she communicates with PC/JS. She likely doesn't know more about football than the average fan, excluding what she's learned about the pure business end of it.

It's horrible to have a ghost for an owner who we know nothing about who's in charge of putting the top people in place to run the franchise. I think the fanbase deserves some accountability on her part, to actually come out and speak about the state of the franchise. Paul Allen certainly wasn't a high visibility of an owner, but you had a good sense of what was going on, from the purchase of the team, to the building of the stadium, to his picking of his front office to run the team.

I can't stand the ownership situation now. I don't know how anyone couldn't be thoroughly dissatisfied with the state and style of ownership now.

 

[Keyhawk]

Years ago, didn't Russ say he wanted to own an NFL team one day.

 

[renofox]

Attempting to deduce Jody's competence is extremely difficult because we really have no information about her.

We can be pretty sure she is not analyzing the details of the business or law because she does not have the education to do so. Her only higher education is a stint at Whitman (Walla Walla) as a Drama major.

However, she has both managed and coordinated many high-end, complicated projects. Co-founder of Vulcan, partnership with Paul in acquiring the Seahawks, managing several big $ real estate developments and renovations, President of Vulcan Productions where she was Executive Producer for over a dozen films and documentaries and Producer for many more, and she serves as either Chairman or Member of the Board on many charitable foundations. I'm pretty sure she is now acting as Executor of PA's Estate and as Chairman of the Allen Charitable Trust.

In other words, it's a safe bet that she's intelligent and understands how to operate at a high level within any organization. She has plenty of experience in finding and hiring top talent, and the connections to a vast pool of high-level talent.

Its a safe bet that she doesn't make decisions based on her own knowledge or analysis. Rather she relies on finding the best advisors she can and weighing their various arguments to make her decision.

It all really boils down to what her advisors are telling her.

tldr; We have know way of knowing what Jody is going to do with the team or when she is going to do it.

 

[TheLegendOfBoom]

The only qualifications most owners have to own and run a franchise is that they have lots and lots of money. Jody is virtually a ghost to the fanbase, the press, the players. I don't even know how much she communicates with PC/JS. She likely doesn't know more about football than the average fan, excluding what she's learned about the pure business end of it.

It's horrible to have a ghost for an owner who we know nothing about who's in charge of putting the top people in place to run the franchise. I think the fanbase deserves some accountability on her part, to actually come out and speak about the state of the franchise. Paul Allen certainly wasn't a high visibility of an owner, but you had a good sense of what was going on, from the purchase of the team, to the building of the stadium, to his picking of his front office to run the team.

I can't stand the ownership situation now. I don't know how anyone couldn't be thoroughly dissatisfied with the state and style of ownership now.

I would hope she has relinquished any and all football business moves to Vulcan Sports??? I would think that collective group is the one that will decide if Carroll continues to be coach and just advices Jody Allen what football moves should take place…..who knows…..

 

[morgulon1]

Just random thoughts and perhaps this has already been mentioned. No disrespect for Paul..RIP and grateful for what he did for this organization. Perhaps for change to take place is for Jody to sell the team now. I know she loves this team, but she's no Paul Allen. I'm just speaking out of my arse so don't mind me, but perhaps Jody is too busy or too sentimental to make the necessary changes this organization so badly needs right now. Something needs to give.

What do you think she's busy doing?