I got involved in a new public effort to buy the Seattle Seahawks – so far I’m holding out for $79M.
A new proposal to buy the Seattle Seahawks was presented by a fan of the team who thinks that such a public treasure should be owned by all 12s rather than by one very rich millionaire.
Abel Charrow’s “Let’s Buy Seahawks” website is a fun little distraction for any fans still nursing a Super Bowl hangover or lamenting the loss of some key players in this week’s free agency.
Charrow is a Seattle-based partner in Extra Good Studio, a creative collective that serves as a product studio. As a longtime Seahawks fan, he was looking for a way to spark interest in other types of ownership now that Paul Allen’s estate has sold the team.
But Charrow admits the effort is more tongue-in-cheek than a serious bid to own an NFL franchise, even if he finds the Green Bay Packers’ shareholder model appealing.
“Without being on the nose, it’s a critique of billionaires and how much money it takes to buy something of that size,” Charrow told GeekWire during a phone interview Tuesday. “On one level, that’s what I wanted to highlight.”
The site’s proposal is urging fans to raise the bid to $12 billion, which isn’t an unrealistic number but probably a few billion more than the Hawks will make in the end. In one half per person, everyone gets an equal stake. If all 780,995 Seattle residents chip in, that’s $15,365.02 each. Costs will decrease as more fans contribute throughout the Washington state, Pacific Northwest and beyond.
By Tuesday afternoon, 153 share-Hawks had been contacted, including one of me. That put my investment at the time at about $79 million. I got a digital “purpose receipt”, but, sorry, I’m not ready for that kind of money.
Charrow lived in New Mexico as a child without a sports team to pick up. When he moved to Seattle it was a big deal for him to become a Seahawks fan. And when he moved back to LA to attend USC, he was there during the Pete Carroll era. He also ended up returning to Seattle, the same time Carroll became the head coach of the Hawks and won the team’s first Super Bowl championship.
This year, Charrow was just as excited to cheer on USC alum Sam Darnold, the Seahawks’ new Super Bowl-winning quarterback.
Charrow does not consider himself a professional. He earned an MBA in technology management from the University of Washington last year because he felt the need to “improve.”
“In a way, it was a big effort to write about the vibe, to use a word that’s popular these days,” Charrow said of the Hawks scene he’s creating. He tested several different programs including Cursor, Replit, and Codex, and said Claude Code was next.
There are a few easter eggs built into the site if fans bother to click. Clicking the Space Needle causes the “Animal Quake” and clicking on the dangling ball introduces a Jason Myers simulation that allows fans to kick field goals.
The idea of public ownership has been rekindled since the estate of Allen, the late Microsoft co-founder, announced that the group was being sold in accordance with his wishes. Seattle-based tech startup Arrived is exploring fan interest in serving as a private pool for the Seahawks. More than 12,000 fans have expressed a potential interest worth $113 million.
Besides, many fans and sports prognosticators are waiting for another billionaire to finally step up. The list of such people with ties to Seattle includes a who’s who of technology, including former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos. Bill Gates said he doesn’t care.
Charrow doesn’t keep the names or contact information of fans who express interest in owning a group, admitting that it’s “mostly an art project.”
“If people are serious about it, they can sign up and I will keep them updated on the progress,” he said. “Hopefully it will start a conversation and maybe people will get this idea of … ‘why?’”
