No Ego, All Legacy: Jody Allen Bids Farewell to the Seahawks

We see it all the time in sports, especially in the NFL. Owners are, usually by nature, egocentric billionaires who want the credit, glory, and control. Jerry Jones in Dallas is the posterchild for the meddling, egomaniac owner. It hasn’t won him a Super Bowl in three decades. Jimmy Haslam in Cleveland certainly has a track record of similar behavior with far worse results since purchasing the team.

‍Meddling owners consistently get in the way of their “football people” and make decisions they, frankly, are unqualified to make. We see it in other sports too. A handful of owners in Major League Baseball are too cheap and obsessed with profits to care enough to open their wallets to bring top tier talent to their teams.

‍Are you looking for the opposite of all of that? Look no further than Seattle’s own Jody Allen.

‍Every city loves a native kid making it big. Jo Lynn "Jody" Allen is no exception. She was born in Seattle and attended Lakeside School. The Allen family has certainly left a huge mark in Seattle, for the better. Jody’s older brother, Paul, of course, became the co-founder of Microsoft Corporation. He was primary owner of the Portland Trail Blazers and Seattle Seahawks, acquiring both by 1997 and paving the way for the construction of Lumen Field, which kept the Seahawks in town rather than going to Anaheim.

Paul Allen was diagnosed with non-Hodgkin lymphoma in 2009 and waged a constant battle with the disease until his passing in 2018. Jody became the executor and trustee of his estate. That meant she became the owner of the Seattle Seahawks.

Don’t misinterpret this as Jody just riding on the coattails of her older brother. Nothing could be farther from the truth. She was co-founder with Paul in many of their charitable endeavors. She was involved in negotiations that eventually led to Lumen Field being built. She is the president of the board of trustees of the Museum of Pop Culture, which is a popular nonprofit museum in Seattle.

As owner of the Seahawks, she has maintained a relatively low public profile compared to many sports owners. Don’t misinterpret that as passive. She cares deeply. She oversaw the moves to trade away Russell Wilson and move on from beloved head coach Pete Carroll. Those were two decisions over which a lesser owner and more dysfunctional franchise would’ve unraveled. Those decisions took guts, which she has in spades. Ultimately, she let general manager John Schneider be himself. Letting her “football people be football people” was imperative to the rapid ascent to the Super Bowl title under new head coach Mike Macdonald.

On Wednesday, the sale from Allen to the Khosla family became official, with NFL owners unanimously approving the sale to Vinod, Neeru, and Neal Khosla.

In one last act to cement the Allen family legacy in Seattle, both Paul’s and Jody’s, per Paul Allen’s will and the terms of the trust, the proceeds of the sale are directed to philanthropy rather than personal profit for Jody Allen or the family. The bulk is expected to flow primarily to Allen Family Philanthropies - the foundation co-founded by Paul and Jody Allen - which supports arts and culture, youth development, environmental conservation, education, science, and other causes both locally and abroad. ‍

Seattle should be proud to call the Allen family their own.

At the opening press conference to introduce the Khosla’s as new owners, they said all the right things. It seems like Vinod Khosla understands the valuable asset his family just acquired, stating, “It’s pretty simple when the team is functioning as well as it is today. How often do you get to buy a franchise that just won the Super Bowl? So, we are incredibly lucky and humbled by this gift, I would say, from the Allen Trust. Having been to Lumen Field and watching the 12s everywhere, I do want to thank them for their passion and fervor, and the community in Seattle is incredibly valuable, so we hope to engage a lot more with the community also.”

Hopefully, the Khosla family can continue on building upon the Allen family legacy. Between Paul and Jody, those are Puget Sound-sized shoes to fill.