Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla told Axios this week that he has “no current plans to change anything about the team,” but “will never say never” to moving the team out of the city.
In a phone interview
published Thursday, Axios’ Dan Primack asked Khosla whether he would commit to keeping the team in Seattle long-term. When asked specifically, “Will you make that commitment?” Khosla’s full response was as follows:“I will never say never. Will this team be in Seattle 500 years from now? But I have no current plans to change anything about the team, including the coach, president, operation or Lumen Field. It all functions well.”
Khosla is clearly spitballing here. Using 500 years as the timetable takes the question more literally than intended.
Seattle has a tumultuous history with the subject of its sports teams’ relocation. Both the Seahawks and Seattle Mariners threatened to leave in the 1990s, and the Seattle SuperSonics moved to Oklahoma City in 2008 after Clay Bennett purchased the team.
In one of the biggest sports controversies in the city’s history, Bennett promised to make a “good faith effort” to keep the team in Seattle for at least one year before exploring relocation. During that time, ownership partner Aubrey McClendon told an Oklahoma City newspaper that “we didn’t buy the team to keep it in Seattle; we hoped to come here.” That is the commonly held belief among Seattleites today — that as soon as Howard Schultz sold the Sonics, they were gone.
Khosla and Bennett’s situations are polar opposites. Khosla bought the team at it’s height and won’t promise anything, while Bennett bought the team at it’s lowest and promised to make it better. No matter how this topic gets brought up, this city’s history makes it loaded. Don’t be alarmed if residents have a visceral reaction. The differences should quell some nerves, though. Bennett made a promise he couldn’t prove he kept and ultimately moved the team. Khosla refused to promise anything he couldn’t literally guarantee, even though he has no reason to move the team. It wasn’t the easiest way to answer the question, but it was the most honest.
HawkMania provided vital context to the situation this afternoon. Even if Khosla wanted to move the Seahawks for some unseen reason, he would need to sift through several obstacles from the Washington state government and the NFL. They’re in a stadium deal that would be nearly impossible to get out of before 2032, and they probably won’t want to do so until 2062. There’s no guarantee the Khosla family will even own the team at that point.
The Khosla family has to go through the Washington State Public Stadium Authority [PSA], which is the landlord and public owner of Lumen Field. First & Goal Inc is a private company that leases and operates Lumen Field, Event Center, and the parking garage on behalf of the…
— HawkMania (@hawkmania4) August 26, 2026
It would have been much easier for Khosla to promise the fans an ultimatum. It doesn’t necessarily help him to be this candid right now. But it rips the band-aid off. The Seahawks are owned by a tech tycoon who knows how to speak and operate like one, but contrary to the PR-driven motives you’d expect, he prioritized honesty here. For as long as we can picture Seattle’s future, we should confidently picture the Seahawks playing in front of 70,000 fans every year on the corner of Occidental Avenue and Royal Brougham Way.
This article originally appeared on Seahawks Wire: No, Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla didn't threaten to move the team.
