If you, Seattle sports fan, feel lately as if you’ve been taking in local developments at the pace of a waterfall, welcome to the, well, glub.
Traditionally the final week in March features the Mariners’ home opener and a flame-out by Gonzaga in the NCAA men’s basketball tournament. The third-seeded Zags already delivered, losing to 11th-seeded Texas in the second round Saturday. The Mariners are on tap Thursday, booking a pre-game unveiling of a rare artifact unseen hereabouts practically since Doc Maynard was an intern — an American League West divisional pennant. Shut up, Yankees and Dodgers fans — the M’s 50-year warm-up is over. Snicker at your peril.
NBA news is usurping the scheduled fare this week. The league’s Board of Governors is reported to have scheduled a vote in New York on Wednesday regarding continuing expansion plans for Seattle and Las Vegas to join the league for the 2028-29 season.
Yes, we all understand that these reports since the Sonics’ departure in 2008 have caused basketball fans to go all Homer Simpson after another cruel trick from Mr. Burns. But apparently the oligarchs have discerned an expiration date for the curse applied to Seattle by their late commissioner, David Stern. Or maybe it was the recent announcement by Howard Schultz, the former SuperSonics owner who sold the club to Oklahoma City prairie pirates, that he was leaving Seattle to reside in Florida. Even the oligarchs didn’t want to be around Schultz.
Further buttressing the strong hint of a potential Sonics’ return was the news Monday that the owners of the NHL Seattle Kraken created an umbrella organization, One Roof Sports and Entertainment, to be the majority owner of Climate Pledge Arena. Oak View Group built the renovated KeyArena, which opened four years ago as a premier concert venue and can accommodate the Kraken, WNBA and an NBA return. OVG sold shares to One Roof, led by longtime Seattle sports executive Tod Leiweke, and kept a minority position. OVG will continue to operate the building.
The timing of the change, just ahead of the NBA vote, suggests that One Roof now has an edge in determining ownership of the NBA team. Kraken owner Samantha Holloway obviously wants her fellow investors to own the hoops team too, instead of a third party that might make scheduling demands that would create conflict. The expected expansion fee for the new Sonics owners is likely more than $6 billion. For that amount, a new entity would expect premium dates and other priorities. Holloway would much rather own both winter sports teams and the building in harmony.
Also in the same arena this week is another newsmaker: The WNBA Storm. Seattle’s franchise was part of an astonishing new collective bargaining agreement between the league and its players. The average annual salary will approach $600,000. Top players, such as former Storm star Breanna Stewart, can make up to $1.4 million. Each team’s salary cap is $7 million, compared to $1.5 million in 2025. Maybe the most startling way to put it is that the new floor—a minimum salary of $300,000—exceeds that of the highest-paid player in the 2025 season. First regular season game is May 8.
The backdrop to all these abrupt dramas is the largest, and quietest local sports story: The Seahawks are for sale. Only four other times has the NFL seen a franchise sold after winning a Super Bowl, and for only the third time in the Seahawks’ 50 seasons will the team be dealt. In August, Sportico estimated the value at $6.5 billion.
If you see me in a bar, don’t ask who’s buying the Seahawks without buying me a beer. I have said, “I don’t know” so many times that I deserve many drinks. I can safely assume that the sale will be competitive, because oligarchs love being part of a monopoly. This particular monopoly is so successful that its champion just paid Jaxon Smith-Njigba $168.6 million overall—$42.15 million in each of the final four seasons—making him the highest-paid wide receiver in NFL history. One reason the Seahawks could afford to pay so much for someone who touches the ball relatively few times is that the NFL salary cap has crossed the $300 million threshold for the first time. Four years ago, it crossed $200 million for the first time.
Many current global situations aren’t yielding results.
Seattle sports is not one of them
By the way: Seattle hosts six World Cup games starting June 15, including Team USA June 19.
World Series starts Oct. 23. Mariners are the third-best betting favorite behind the Dodgers and Yankees.
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