Jody Allen. | Allen Family Philanthropies photo
What you probably already know: Many fans on the fence heading into last weekend’s Super Bowl rooted for Seahawks owner Jody Allen as much as they did the team itself. Allen is a philanthropist who’s donated millions to charity, both personally and through Allen Family Philanthropies. Patriots boss Robert Kraft’s company donated $1 million to Donald Trump back in 2017. He’s also a longtime friend of the president. That message spread across social media in the days leading up to the Super Bowl, with many posters exhorting undecided fans to root for the Seahawks. The media-shy Allen, who assumed control of the team in 2018 after the death of her older brother, Microsoft co-founder Paul Allen, has taken center stage following her team’s dominant 29-13 thumping of the overmatched Patriots.
Why it matters: Allen is one of a dozen female owners in the NFL, an all-time high in what has been a male-dominated boys club since its inception more than a century ago. Allen, though, won’t be the owner for much longer. The NFL is reportedly pressuring her to sell the team, and Paul Allen’s will stipulates that the club (which is technically owned by the Paul G. Allen Trust, of which Jody is the trustee and executor) must eventually be sold, with the proceeds going to charity. Jody Allen recently unloaded the NBA’s Portland Trailblazers in a deal valued at roughly $425 billion.
What it means: Allen, 67, and her brother worked together on a wide range of business and philanthropic initiatives. She was a co-founder at Vulcan Real Estate (now known as Vale Group), the entity that turned Seattle’s South Lake Union neighborhood into a tech hub that is now home to Amazon’s world headquarters. She and Paul also co-founded Allen Family Philanthropies (previously the Paul G. Allen Foundation), which has distributed approximately $500 million to arts and culture, youth development and environmental initiatives. She was a founding director of Seattle pop culture museum MoPOP and launched the Wild Lives Foundation, a nonprofit that works on wildlife conservation, and serves on several boards.
What happens next: Unlike her brother, who was a prominent figure at both Seahawks and Blazers games, the low-key Allen has never sought publicity and many outside Seattle know little about her. She did appear with the team after the Super Bowl win and at Wednesday’s victory parade. Any sale of the Seahawks — which Paul Allen purchased in 1997 for approximately $194 million after then-owner Ken Behring threatened to move the team to Southern California — is estimated between $9 billion and $11 billion, a sizable increase over the record $6.05 billion the Washington Commanders sold for just three years ago.
