Latest / Seahawks Press Pass / Khosla Family Introductory Press Conference At Lumen Field
Transcript
- 0:02Speaker 1: Well, good morning, everybody.
- 0:03Speaker 2: I think I want to first start with my wife.
- 0:09Speaker 2: We've been together for 55 years or so, almost.
- 0:16Speaker 3: So watch out, we're here to stay.
- 0:20Speaker 1: My son, Neil. We've been together for 32 years. My daughter, Nina.
- 0:35Speaker 2: Nina's an entrepreneur by herself, two fashion brands she started,
- 0:39Speaker 2: Form and Osu, so feel free to talk to her later.
- 0:44Speaker 2: And my other daughter is feeding the baby. You'll meet
- 0:51Speaker 2: the biggest, newest 12. And our fourth daughter is just
- 0:59Speaker 2: landing from Amsterdam.
- 1:01Speaker 3: No, no, no, third daughter and a son.
- 1:05Speaker 2: Or the fourth child, the third daughter. Nina's the eldest.
- 1:09Speaker 2: Anu with the baby.
- 1:12Speaker 1: Is second.
- 1:14Speaker 2: Our daughter who's landing is the third. And she'll be
- 1:18Speaker 2: here at the game. And my son Neil is the youngest,
- 1:22Speaker 2: the baby in the family. So he's an entrepreneur. Anu
- 1:29Speaker 2: mostly works in non-profit causes, and our daughter, who's lending
- 1:34Speaker 2: from Amsterdam, is in a competitive equestrian, so she was competing,
- 1:39Speaker 2: and so she's back here for the game.
- 1:43Speaker 1: Thank you.
- 1:55Speaker 4: Hello, Brian Emhauser with Hawkblogger. Welcome to Seattle, first of all.
- 1:59Speaker 4: Excited to be here, really excited. Excited to have you.
- 2:03Speaker 4: So when the team was last sold in 97, Paul
- 2:06Speaker 4: Allen recognized that accessibility was important, made $ 10 tickets available,
- 2:11Speaker 4: and committed to have some percentage of tickets always at
- 2:14Speaker 4: the lowest average in the NFL. Since then, ticket prices
- 2:17Speaker 4: have gone up 1,100%. Median household income is only up 125%.
- 2:23Speaker 4: what your perspective is on keeping accessibility for the average
- 2:26Speaker 4: fan to keep the home field advantage what it's been
- 2:28Speaker 4: in Seattle.
- 2:29Speaker 2: So we do respect what Paul Allen and Jody did.
- 2:35Speaker 2: I suspect without going into specifics, our policies won't be
- 2:40Speaker 2: much different than whatever they are following done in conjunction
- 2:44Speaker 2: with management. So I don't expect we'll change a lot
- 2:48Speaker 2: from Paul's philosophy or Jody's philosophy.
- 2:56Speaker 5: Congratulations again, Chris Daniels from Como News in Seattle. The
- 3:00Speaker 5: question that has lingered for a lot of people through
- 3:03Speaker 5: the last few months with the change in ownership is
- 3:06Speaker 5: what your future plans are, not only for this building
- 3:09Speaker 5: that we're sitting in right now, Lumen Field, but for
- 3:12Speaker 5: the area around the stadium. As now the official owners
- 3:16Speaker 5: of the franchise, what can you say about the future
- 3:19Speaker 5: of Lumen Field and the stadium district?
- 3:22Speaker 2: First, I'd say we are owners for five days. A
- 3:26Speaker 2: little early to formulate specific plans. The broad thing I
- 3:30Speaker 2: can say is I don't expect too many changes. So
- 3:35Speaker 2: our philosophy will probably be similar to what the Allens
- 3:39Speaker 2: did and rely a lot on management to recommend what
- 3:44Speaker 2: they want to do.
- 3:49Speaker 6: Hi, Bob Condotta with the Seattle Times. I understand you
- 3:53Speaker 6: guys were here for the playoff game against the 49ers
- 3:56Speaker 6: last year, and obviously I guess rooting for the 49ers
- 3:58Speaker 6: at the time, but I was just wondering if you
- 3:59Speaker 6: could tell me what you remember of that game and
- 4:02Speaker 6: your thoughts on kind of sitting in the stands for
- 4:05Speaker 6: that game.
- 4:06Speaker 2: Well, that game really brought home to us the power
- 4:11Speaker 2: of the 12 brand. Literally how passionate a fan base
- 4:16Speaker 2: it is, I never realized how popular a brand the
- 4:19Speaker 2: 12s are.
- 4:20Speaker 1: And so that's very exciting.
- 4:23Speaker 2: I would say that was the big takeaway, other than
- 4:26Speaker 2: being on the losing side of that. Thankfully now, being
- 4:31Speaker 2: on the losing side, we are excited for Seattle. And
- 4:34Speaker 2: so I would say the biggest impression was the Lumen
- 4:39Speaker 2: Field as iconic venue, the loudness. how exciting and energetic
- 4:44Speaker 2: it was, and, of course, the 12s.
- 4:47Speaker 7: I might just add, you know, my dad and I
- 4:49Speaker 7: came to that game, Bob, and we had never been
- 4:52Speaker 7: to Lumen before. And I think, obviously, the Seahawks, you know,
- 4:58Speaker 7: had a very good game. And we're kind of sitting
- 5:01Speaker 7: there in the fourth quarter, and it was still so loud.
- 5:06Speaker 7: And I think kind of one of my reflections coming
- 5:09Speaker 7: out of that was like, I don't know that I've
- 5:12Speaker 7: ever been in a venue this loud and this passionate.
- 5:15Speaker 7: And it's a 30 point game in the fourth quarter.
- 5:18Speaker 7: And you see how special the fan base is. I
- 5:22Speaker 7: think we walked away going, Oh my God, like this
- 5:25Speaker 7: is a, this is built different. Um, and so that
- 5:29Speaker 7: was kind of the first cue that to us that,
- 5:32Speaker 7: that this franchise, I think has something really special in
- 5:35Speaker 7: how it's connected to the community and what the fan
- 5:37Speaker 7: base is and how they show up for games. And,
- 5:40Speaker 7: ultimately how that helps the team on the field.
- 5:44Speaker 8: Hello, I'm Brady Henderson from ESPN.
- 5:46Speaker 1: Welcome.
- 5:47Speaker 8: So we know your respective titles. Can you help us
- 5:49Speaker 8: understand what that's going to mean? Who's in charge of
- 5:52Speaker 8: what that looks like on a day-to-day basis?
- 5:56Speaker 2: I would say the following. We are super close-knit family.
- 6:00Speaker 2: So if you want to know us, we are very close.
- 6:04Speaker 2: And we will probably operate relatively interchangeably as an office
- 6:08Speaker 2: of the chairman. and not have any specific things. Now
- 6:13Speaker 2: Nir is very passionate about education. She's had a nonprofit
- 6:18Speaker 2: in education for 20 years, which by the way, serves
- 6:24Speaker 2: 30 to 40 million children worldwide every year. And millions
- 6:29Speaker 2: of students are using her AI tutor every single month.
- 6:36Speaker 2: She'll be more focused in the community efforts and some
- 6:40Speaker 2: of the foundation efforts for the Seahawks Foundation. Neil and
- 6:45Speaker 2: I will probably operate relatively interchangeably.
- 6:49Speaker 1: We stay in close touch. We talk every single day, practically.
- 6:55Speaker 2: We hang out a lot together, so you'll see us
- 6:58Speaker 2: operate as if we are one entity.
- 7:01Speaker 8: And one follow-up to that, will any of you or
- 7:03Speaker 8: all of you be stationed in Seattle or in this area?
- 7:07Speaker 1: We will be here often. We won't be moving to Seattle.
- 7:12Speaker 2: Just like we've been together for 55 years, we tend
- 7:15Speaker 2: to be pretty stable. We've been in the same house
- 7:17Speaker 2: since 1986.
- 7:18Speaker 1: So... It's true. So... But we'll be here a lot.
- 7:28Speaker 3: Just so you know, we take commitment seriously.
- 7:35Speaker 9: Guys, Dave Mahler, KJR Seattle. First of all, welcome to town.
- 7:40Speaker 9: Couple questions.
- 7:41Speaker 1: Can you guys just talk about.
- 7:42Speaker 9: What a great weather outcome to us. It's always like this,
- 7:45Speaker 9: by the way, just so you know. Can you talk
- 7:48Speaker 9: a little bit more about your management style? You mentioned
- 7:50Speaker 9: letting the people in charge make recommendations. And then I
- 7:54Speaker 9: think the question everybody here wants to know, really the
- 7:56Speaker 9: reason why we're all here, you've had and you've seen
- 7:59Speaker 9: the blue throwback uniforms. Are we going to see the
- 8:02Speaker 9: white throwback uniforms brought back at any point in time,
- 8:05Speaker 9: maybe this season?
- 8:07Speaker 7: You want to talk about.
- 8:09Speaker 10: Oh, no.
- 8:11Speaker 2: So to the first question, the management style, I think
- 8:15Speaker 2: our approach will be to have great management.
- 8:18Speaker 1: We do have great management. They got us to the
- 8:21Speaker 1: Super Bowl.
- 8:22Speaker 2: And by the way, how lucky is it, how often
- 8:25Speaker 2: do you get to buy a team that just won
- 8:27Speaker 2: the Super Bowl? So the best thing we can do
- 8:31Speaker 2: is not mess with a lot. But we will be
- 8:36Speaker 2: working closely with management. I don't think our approach is
- 8:42Speaker 2: going to be telling them what to do. Our approach
- 8:45Speaker 2: will be lots of discussions and then leave it to
- 8:48Speaker 2: management to decide whether they agree with us or not.
- 8:52Speaker 2: So I'm very much a fan of handing them the
- 8:57Speaker 2: baton and let them do their thing and take responsibility
- 9:03Speaker 2: for the results, which hopefully is another Super Bowl.
- 9:07Speaker 1: Very soon this year.
- 9:11Speaker 2: I don't know if I can tell you much more
- 9:13Speaker 2: other than lots of dialogue, lots of discussion, then let
- 9:17Speaker 2: them make decisions.
- 9:19Speaker 1: Yeah, the throwbacks.
- 9:23Speaker 11: Yeah, that's when I can, we will bring those back
- 9:25Speaker 11: for 2027.
- 9:25Speaker 7: The white throwbacks.
- 9:33Speaker 1: Greg Bell, the News Tribune.
- 9:35Speaker 2: Could all of you address how you'd like to incorporate
- 9:38Speaker 2: artificial intelligence in the football operations of the Seahawks? Well,
- 9:44Speaker 2: I don't know if there's a specific plan. We've talked
- 9:49Speaker 2: a bunch about it. I won't say there's a specific
- 9:55Speaker 2: plan on the field. That'll be left to Mike and
- 9:57Speaker 2: John Schneider, Mike McDonald and John Schneider to do. AI
- 10:06Speaker 2: has a lot of roles to play. I just mentioned
- 10:08Speaker 2: AI tutors in the community, so there's definitely uses for that.
- 10:14Speaker 2: And no, I don't think there's any labor displacement gonna
- 10:17Speaker 2: happen with robots. I suspect AI will be an important
- 10:22Speaker 2: part of entertainment in enhancing the experience, but no specific
- 10:28Speaker 2: plans today.
- 10:30Speaker 7: Yeah. I would just add that I think one of
- 10:34Speaker 7: the great things about John and Mike is they're always
- 10:36Speaker 7: chasing edges. They're always looking for what they can do
- 10:40Speaker 7: to gain advantages. And if we can be helpful, we'd
- 10:43Speaker 7: love to bring those perspectives. But as my dad said,
- 10:46Speaker 7: I think it's how do we have discussions? How do
- 10:49Speaker 7: we push each other and then they have to make
- 10:51Speaker 7: decisions about, we're not here to make decisions about how
- 10:56Speaker 7: AI is used in football. I think we're here to
- 10:58Speaker 7: have those conversations and hopefully bring some new ideas and
- 11:02Speaker 7: that's kind of the extent of that.
- 11:04Speaker 2: Yeah, let me just elaborate on that a little more.
- 11:07Speaker 2: You always want to have lots of discussions, lots of ideas,
- 11:11Speaker 2: lots of debate. But then the people in charge of
- 11:15Speaker 2: executing should have the baton to make the decision. Because
- 11:19Speaker 2: if they haven't made the decision, they won't be as
- 11:21Speaker 2: committed to it. That's a very important management philosophy. The
- 11:26Speaker 2: person responsible for executing should buy into the decision, make
- 11:30Speaker 2: the decision after plenty of debate and ideas and interaction.
- 11:34Speaker 2: Of all the professional sports franchises in the world, why
- 11:45Speaker 2: did you choose to buy the Super Bowl?
- 11:46Speaker 1: Well, they just won the Super Bowl. We were very fortunate.
- 11:51Speaker 2: I've had lots of connections to Seattle because of the
- 11:54Speaker 2: tech community here. And when it became available, we both
- 12:00Speaker 2: got super excited about.
- 12:05Speaker 7: It. It's the best sport in the world, and it's
- 12:07Speaker 7: the best fan base in the sport, and in the world. Like,
- 12:12Speaker 7: that simple.
- 12:14Speaker 3: Can I just add, because for me, Most important is
- 12:20Speaker 3: to kind of bring the youth into the world they're
- 12:24Speaker 3: going to live in. And the best way to do
- 12:27Speaker 3: that is through education. Help them understand what they can do.
- 12:33Speaker 3: A lot of that, what we built, has been, and
- 12:38Speaker 3: by the way, we offer it free, so we can educate,
- 12:42Speaker 3: we can kind of help them be, if they truly
- 12:46Speaker 3: want to be in the sports, which they should, We
- 12:49Speaker 3: want them to be there with deeper understandings. So that's
- 12:54Speaker 3: my commitment to the youth of Seattle, to help them
- 12:59Speaker 3: get where they want to get through what we've built
- 13:02Speaker 3: with technology and now AI on top of that. So
- 13:06Speaker 3: lots of potentials.
- 13:09Speaker 12: Corbin Smith, Emerald City Spectrum. My question's for Neil here.
- 13:13Speaker 12: You've got kind of a unique perspective here, previously being
- 13:16Speaker 12: an intern, I believe, football operations with the 49ers. What
- 13:20Speaker 12: have the discussions been like for you getting to talk
- 13:22Speaker 12: to John Schneider and Mike McDonald, having that background, obviously,
- 13:26Speaker 12: with the game that a lot of times incoming owners
- 13:29Speaker 12: don't have?
- 13:30Speaker 7: Yeah, I mean, I think it helps a little bit,
- 13:32Speaker 7: but I would be really careful about equating me spending
- 13:36Speaker 7: a summer working the 49ers front office with Mike and John,
- 13:40Speaker 7: who know what they're talking about. I think maybe we've
- 13:47Speaker 7: been able to talk about a few things that I
- 13:49Speaker 7: saw or didn't see, but it's a very short experience
- 13:53Speaker 7: versus what they have, which is a lifetime. For me,
- 13:57Speaker 7: I'm coming in with a mindset of these are two
- 13:59Speaker 7: of the brilliant minds when it comes to football, and
- 14:02Speaker 7: so what can I learn from them? That was 15
- 14:05Speaker 7: years ago. I mean, John liked the story that the
- 14:11Speaker 7: first day on that internship, they sat me down and
- 14:15Speaker 7: they made me take the, what's the, the Wonder Lake,
- 14:18Speaker 7: is that what it's called? Yeah, and then they put
- 14:21Speaker 7: up my score and said, here's all the other guys
- 14:23Speaker 7: in the league. So that's about the extent of what
- 14:25Speaker 7: I'm bringing to this experience.
- 14:28Speaker 2: I would say, for something like the Seahawks, We're very
- 14:36Speaker 2: much analytical in the approach, but combining analytics with passion
- 14:41Speaker 2: is a pretty unique mix that I think Seattle especially offers,
- 14:46Speaker 2: and the fan base especially offers. But we are big
- 14:50Speaker 2: fans of analytics.
- 14:53Speaker 13: Hi, John Boyle from Seahawks.com, middle here. For Niru, just
- 14:57Speaker 13: wanted to get your thoughts.
- 14:58Speaker 1: Can I see you?
- 14:59Speaker 5: In the middle.
- 15:00Speaker 1: Okay.
- 15:01Speaker 9: In the, okay, there.
- 15:03Speaker 13: In the role of the president of the Charitable Foundation,
- 15:06Speaker 13: what do you see the Seahawks' role in the community
- 15:09Speaker 13: and how you'd like that to look?
- 15:11Speaker 3: Oh, that's an excellent question. Because sports people are great
- 15:18Speaker 3: role models for youth. So I was really happy to
- 15:22Speaker 3: see the focus of the foundation being on the youth.
- 15:29Speaker 3: You know, I think we forget that today's youth is
- 15:32Speaker 3: being told, oh, there are going to be no jobs
- 15:35Speaker 3: for you, there's going to be no this, no that,
- 15:37Speaker 3: all that negativity. I want to change that dialogue. I
- 15:42Speaker 3: want to show youth, and we can use the very
- 15:48Speaker 3: names that youth really cherishes. So I want to put
- 15:54Speaker 3: them in front, I want to tell them, Look, you
- 15:57Speaker 3: can be that. So there's lots of stuff. I don't
- 15:59Speaker 3: know what's gonna happen. I need to talk to the
- 16:02Speaker 3: foundation people, but there's lots of potential, and they're already
- 16:06Speaker 3: doing some stuff. So we're going to have to focus
- 16:10Speaker 3: on what needs to be the main goal and to
- 16:15Speaker 3: kind of come up with solutions. But youth definitely will
- 16:20Speaker 3: use the Seahawks as models. for them to learn from,
- 16:26Speaker 3: the hard work, the commitment, and perseverance. Those are what
- 16:32Speaker 3: I'm looking for.
- 16:36Speaker 11: Here in the back, Andrew Destin with The Athletic. Question,
- 16:39Speaker 11: if you even know, to two-parter. First would be, you've
- 16:42Speaker 11: been very vocal on social media since taking over the team,
- 16:45Speaker 11: interacting with fans. I'm curious, how important will that be
- 16:48Speaker 11: for you Moving forward, and second, your jacket and shoes,
- 16:52Speaker 11: I understand there's a story behind that. Curious what you
- 16:54Speaker 11: could tell us here. Thank you so much.
- 16:59Speaker 1: I am on and off social media.
- 17:01Speaker 2: I don't always engage, but I am trying.
- 17:04Speaker 1: To be approachable.
- 17:06Speaker 2: Social media is an interesting beast because the two fringes respond.
- 17:11Speaker 2: And so you have to be very careful when you respond,
- 17:14Speaker 2: when you don't. You want to speak to the bulk
- 17:16Speaker 2: of the people. not the extremes. I will continue to
- 17:21Speaker 2: be active. I'm not spending an hour a day on
- 17:26Speaker 2: social media. It's mostly on weekends. But I will continue
- 17:31Speaker 2: to engage and continue to speak out on important issues.
- 17:35Speaker 2: I have a very direct style, so you'll continue to
- 17:38Speaker 2: see that. You won't see a lot of hypocritical politeness
- 17:42Speaker 2: from me. I prefer brutal honesty, calling people when they
- 17:47Speaker 2: need to be called out, or complimenting people when they
- 17:51Speaker 2: need to be complimented, so all sides. The shoes are
- 17:57Speaker 2: a funny story, and somebody asked about AI. So last
- 18:01Speaker 2: week I said, I'd like something special for this event.
- 18:07Speaker 2: And I got online, I said to ChatGPD, design me
- 18:11Speaker 2: a shoe and a logo. Uh, the logo I tweeted, uh,
- 18:17Speaker 2: the shoe, which I'm wearing right now, I said, design
- 18:21Speaker 2: it to me and designed this really nice design.
- 18:24Speaker 1: You can judge for yourself. I liked it.
- 18:26Speaker 2: Uh, and I said, how can I make, get it
- 18:30Speaker 2: made in four days? And it found me a place
- 18:34Speaker 2: in Italy that would make it in four days. So
- 18:36Speaker 2: ChatGPD designed it, found the place that could make it,
- 18:41Speaker 2: and we arranged to get the shoes, which is quite
- 18:44Speaker 2: a miracle, but I'm excited about that.
- 18:47Speaker 1: And I'm excited about the jacket. It looks great.
- 18:50Speaker 2: Maybe I'll model it for you folks. And I love
- 19:02Speaker 2: the idea of 1976. I love the idea of legacy.
- 19:09Speaker 2: As you might guess, this history matters a lot. And
- 19:14Speaker 2: the Nordstroms first and then the Allens did an amazing
- 19:19Speaker 2: job of building a loyal community. And hopefully, we can
- 19:23Speaker 2: be good stewards and match up with their achievements there.
- 19:30Speaker 2: And happy to show you the logo on the shoes
- 19:32Speaker 2: and the colors.
- 19:36Speaker 3: I just want to add one last bit to the question,
- 19:40Speaker 3: the gentleman who asked me the question. I am here
- 19:46Speaker 3: to bring AI tutoring so that every kid, in Seattle
- 19:51Speaker 3: can get a tutor, personal tutor, so it'll be free.
- 19:55Speaker 3: I'm serious about that because we found it really helps
- 20:02Speaker 3: because we built a vertical for students so they can,
- 20:06Speaker 3: the education can be individualized whether they want to be
- 20:10Speaker 3: a Seahawk player in the future, or they wanna be
- 20:13Speaker 3: a musician, they wanna be a physician, whatever that might be,
- 20:18Speaker 3: I'd like to bring that to Seattle.
- 20:23Speaker 2: So one of the unique parts and what AI uniquely enables,
- 20:28Speaker 2: if a kid say they're interested in music, every lesson
- 20:32Speaker 2: can be taught in the context of musical instruments. If
- 20:36Speaker 2: they say they're interested in football or baseball, lessons can
- 20:40Speaker 2: change dynamically to their interests. It's pretty amazing to watch
- 20:45Speaker 2: how much more engaging it becomes for kids when they
- 20:50Speaker 2: do this. There's also, of course, I know probably not
- 20:55Speaker 2: a lot of people covering education here, but an amazing
- 21:00Speaker 2: opportunity to save a lot of money on paying publishers. 30,
- 21:05Speaker 2: 40 million students, like I said.
- 21:08Speaker 11: Use.
- 21:10Speaker 2: Textbooks composed on the CK-12 website that are custom for
- 21:15Speaker 2: that teacher. So I would suspect hundreds of millions of
- 21:20Speaker 2: dollars are spent on textbooks in the state and in
- 21:24Speaker 2: the area. And that's all money that can go into
- 21:27Speaker 2: a kitty that hopefully can be, I'll leave it to
- 21:31Speaker 2: the school board and the teachers to discuss how to
- 21:35Speaker 2: use it.
- 21:38Speaker 14: Masvid Amara-Eri with the CascadiaSports.net. And since player decisions have
- 21:44Speaker 14: to go through the family, I'm wondering for you all,
- 21:47Speaker 14: what are those traits that make up a Seahawk player
- 21:50Speaker 14: on and off the field?
- 21:53Speaker 7: I just think it's too early. We don't, you know, like,
- 21:58Speaker 7: I think that's John and Mike stuff.
- 22:07Speaker 1: Those kinds of things, not so much in terms of skill.
- 22:11Speaker 1: Got it.
- 22:11Speaker 7: Like, you know, I think, I don't know if you
- 22:15Speaker 7: want to.
- 22:17Speaker 2: Look, the most important goal here is winning. Let's be clear.
- 22:25Speaker 2: And winning for Seattle. Every player has their own priorities,
- 22:33Speaker 2: and I don't think The organization.
- 22:36Speaker 1: Itself will dictate priorities. Some will be.
- 22:42Speaker 2: Left, some will be extreme left, some will be right,
- 22:44Speaker 2: some will be extreme right. And I think every player
- 22:49Speaker 2: has to have their own priorities and values. I do
- 22:55Speaker 2: think as an organization, it should have strong values. I've
- 22:59Speaker 2: gotten in trouble often for sticking with values, but it's
- 23:04Speaker 2: part of the thing. So I hope we set a
- 23:07Speaker 2: culture of strong values in the organization. I would definitely
- 23:12Speaker 2: like to recommend that to management. Be very, very clear
- 23:17Speaker 2: on values. What do we believe in?
- 23:23Speaker 15: Tim Booth from the Seattle Times, right here. I'm wondering
- 23:27Speaker 15: if you could walk through the process of how you
- 23:30Speaker 15: brought on your minority investors and what kind of relationships
- 23:34Speaker 15: you might have had with them before they decided to
- 23:38Speaker 15: join your investment.
- 23:40Speaker 1: Well, some I've known for a while. Sameer, are you here?
- 23:46Speaker 2: We've worked together for 20 some years in our firm.
- 23:51Speaker 2: We co-founded it together, so that one's easy. Others I've
- 23:56Speaker 2: known from the tech community. And then there's others, Jesse,
- 24:00Speaker 2: are you here? Way back there, say hello to Jesse.
- 24:07Speaker 2: We met in the process. So there's a wide range
- 24:12Speaker 2: and we wanted some people from Seattle, so there's a
- 24:16Speaker 2: couple of people in the team from Seattle. And a
- 24:19Speaker 2: couple of names that aren't disclosed because they didn't want
- 24:21Speaker 2: to be public about it. I would say one of
- 24:27Speaker 2: the things the NFL didn't give.
- 24:29Speaker 1: Us is a lot of time.
- 24:30Speaker 2: So we had to put together this thing, as Roger
- 24:33Speaker 2: Goodell said, for the owners meeting in August, when originally
- 24:40Speaker 2: the plan was to get it done in the owners
- 24:42Speaker 2: meeting in October. So we did, it was a rushed process,
- 24:46Speaker 2: but it turned out beautifully. And I think we are very,
- 24:49Speaker 2: very happy with the group we put together.
- 24:51Speaker 7: And I might just add, probably spent a lot more
- 24:54Speaker 7: time going through and meeting with just hundreds of people.
- 24:59Speaker 7: As you might expect, everybody wants to be a part
- 25:02Speaker 7: of the NFL.
- 25:04Speaker 11: And I think the.
- 25:05Speaker 7: Group that we settled on have a lot of shared
- 25:08Speaker 7: values in terms of being passionate about football, being passionate
- 25:12Speaker 7: about this team and this region. And generally, I think
- 25:16Speaker 7: what you'll find, many of them are here beyond the
- 25:19Speaker 7: ones that my dad called out. They're all pretty... humble
- 25:23Speaker 7: and pretty approachable. And I think that's unique when you're
- 25:26Speaker 7: talking about people who have the capacity to invest in
- 25:31Speaker 7: things like this where, you know, they understand they're part
- 25:34Speaker 7: of a group and they understand they're part of an
- 25:35Speaker 7: organization with a set of values that are about being,
- 25:42Speaker 7: you know, a group and not kind of about any
- 25:45Speaker 7: one person. And so, you know, I think you go
- 25:49Speaker 7: into VMAC and it's the team, the team, the team.
- 25:51Speaker 7: And I think we really selected for people who have
- 25:54Speaker 7: that same kind of mindset. And it comes through in
- 25:57Speaker 7: the process very, very clearly when you spend time with people,
- 26:01Speaker 7: whether they're about themselves or about the team.
- 26:06Speaker 10: Jen Mueller with the Seahawks broadcast team. Neil, you were
- 26:09Speaker 10: talking about values. When it comes to the characteristics that
- 26:12Speaker 10: you wanted to align with all of the other business
- 26:15Speaker 10: interests that you've had, what were you looking for in
- 26:18Speaker 10: the Seahawks?
- 26:19Speaker 1: What did you find?
- 26:20Speaker 10: That aligned with what you believe is a good organization?
- 26:24Speaker 2: Look, most of my business interests are my venture firm.
- 26:31Speaker 2: And there's a video on what the venture firm does. Dave,
- 26:35Speaker 2: have you shared it? We'll be happy to share a
- 26:39Speaker 2: video of what we invest in. Almost all of it
- 26:44Speaker 2: is technology-based impactful investments. So whether it's a cure for
- 26:50Speaker 2: cancer or better transportation, a lot in climate, a lot
- 26:56Speaker 2: in AI, a lot in national defense, I'd say a
- 27:03Speaker 2: wide range. Public transit is one of my favorites. I
- 27:09Speaker 2: do think there's a very different approach to public transit
- 27:12Speaker 2: that's possible I won't go into. Here, so look at
- 27:16Speaker 2: the video and then I'm happy to talk about any
- 27:20Speaker 2: of the 150 or so investments in that video. Each
- 27:25Speaker 2: one is something I'm passionate about doing. And that will
- 27:32Speaker 2: come across, I would say we are one of the
- 27:34Speaker 2: few firms where impact is probably as important as investment returns.
- 27:42Speaker 2: My business goal is to have good enough investment returns
- 27:46Speaker 2: so we can keep getting licensed to do the impact,
- 27:49Speaker 2: and it's very fun. It's all breakthrough technology, rocket space,
- 27:58Speaker 2: Mach 5 aircraft, you name it.
- 28:02Speaker 1: Wide, wide range.
- 28:07Speaker 2: Neil himself works on AI primary care doctors. which really
- 28:12Speaker 2: should be free for everybody in the country eventually and
- 28:17Speaker 2: will happen. So wide range of impactful things in a
- 28:21Speaker 2: number of areas, all based on technology, but I don't
- 28:25Speaker 2: think it intersects with football in any major way.
- 28:31Speaker 1: Football is a passion.
- 28:33Speaker 2: Neil and I, I fell in love a long time
- 28:36Speaker 2: ago with the NFL, and Neil and I have been
- 28:39Speaker 2: football fans for a very long time.
- 28:42Speaker 7: So.
- 28:45Speaker 16: Yeah, I had two of them here, if that's OK.
- 28:47Speaker 16: Mike Sando from The Athletic, same house since 2001. If
- 28:51Speaker 16: you wanted to trade, I'm sure we could work something out.
- 28:55Speaker 16: I would like each of you to answer the question,
- 28:58Speaker 16: what is it about owning a team that you think
- 29:02Speaker 16: will be fulfilling? I say that because I think we
- 29:04Speaker 16: can learn a lot about owners. They're all different in
- 29:06Speaker 16: what they get out of.
- 29:07Speaker 5: It, of owning a team.
- 29:09Speaker 16: Do you have an idea what makes it exciting to
- 29:12Speaker 16: you Because you could all officially buy tickets and be
- 29:14Speaker 16: a fan of a team, but what is it about
- 29:16Speaker 16: the actual owning?
- 29:17Speaker 2: Yeah, let me put it this way. As a family,
- 29:21Speaker 2: one you will find, we are very approachable. Nothing fancy.
- 29:24Speaker 2: We don't like fancy stuff. I would almost say I'm... He.
- 29:31Speaker 1: Got his jacket shipped from Italy.
- 29:32Speaker 6: What are we talking about here?
- 29:36Speaker 1: So we're a very, very close family.
- 29:39Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 29:40Speaker 2: And I do think a team like the Seahawks can
- 29:44Speaker 2: be an extension of the family. So if you ask
- 29:47Speaker 2: me three or four years from now what I hope
- 29:49Speaker 2: to achieve, the team operates like a family. And it's
- 29:53Speaker 2: an extension of the family, dramatically improves the quality of
- 29:57Speaker 2: life if you have an An extended family that truly cares.
- 30:01Speaker 2: So that's what I hope we can get to over
- 30:06Speaker 2: the next couple of years, is operate like an extended family.
- 30:10Speaker 5: Very good.
- 30:10Speaker 16: The last one was, what type of physical presence do
- 30:14Speaker 16: you anticipate having in the building, just as an owner?
- 30:18Speaker 2: I suspect we'll be here a fair amount. We haven't
- 30:23Speaker 2: laid out a schedule we don't want to get in
- 30:25Speaker 2: anybody's way, per se. but be here enough where we
- 30:29Speaker 2: are available always.
- 30:31Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 30:32Speaker 1: Dave, I lied.
- 30:33Speaker 7: One more.
- 30:33Speaker 1: I wouldn't be calling Mike McDonald just before the game.
- 30:37Speaker 5: Yeah, right.
- 30:38Speaker 1: A couple hours before, right?
- 30:40Speaker 7: Yeah.
- 30:41Speaker 16: No, AI and your excitement over it, I share. There's
- 30:45Speaker 16: been in the news today, I think somebody quit from Anthropics,
- 30:48Speaker 16: saying it's going to mark the end of the world.
- 30:50Speaker 16: Sort of where are you on all of that, right?
- 30:54Speaker 7: Yep.
- 30:55Speaker 2: No matter what you want to report, somebody said it.
- 31:00Speaker 2: So you decide what you want to report and you
- 31:02Speaker 2: can find on the net somebody who said it. So
- 31:06Speaker 2: how extreme you get, there's all kinds of opinions in Entropic.
- 31:14Speaker 2: Would Dario, who's the CEO of Entropic, be running the
- 31:18Speaker 2: company if he thought it would destroy humanity in ten
- 31:22Speaker 2: days or ten years? I don't think so. What I
- 31:27Speaker 2: would say is the following. Any powerful technology has benefits
- 31:33Speaker 2: and negatives. Whether you're talking about nuclear, whether it's for
- 31:39Speaker 2: power or bombs, whether you're talking about biotechnology for great
- 31:45Speaker 2: medicine or bioweapons, AI is that kind of powerful technology.
- 31:51Speaker 2: And because of that, As a society, we have to
- 31:56Speaker 2: harness the benefits and manage the downsides. And people are
- 32:03Speaker 2: paying reasonably good attention to it. Look, there's three billion
- 32:07Speaker 2: people on the planet who have no access to education, healthcare,
- 32:14Speaker 2: even basic legal services. I believe it's relatively possible in
- 32:19Speaker 2: the next five to ten years to make All that
- 32:25Speaker 2: available to all people on the planet.
- 32:28Speaker 1: Now, we shouldn't give that up.
- 32:31Speaker 2: And the AI companies have done a terrible job of
- 32:35Speaker 2: showing the benefits that AI can bring. They're focused on
- 32:39Speaker 2: competing with each other, which is a shame. They're focused
- 32:44Speaker 2: on what are the negatives. I hope We manage it well.
- 32:50Speaker 2: Part of it is policy in Washington. And I've been
- 32:53Speaker 2: pretty involved in AI policy in the past. So it's
- 32:59Speaker 2: a job of balancing the good and the bad.
- 33:02Speaker 3: Might I add something here? Historically, when you look at
- 33:07Speaker 3: history of humans, one thing you see that humans always
- 33:13Speaker 3: played games, no matter what level of humanity we had.
- 33:19Speaker 3: So when you think about that, games truly taught us
- 33:23Speaker 3: to be, you know, cohesive, to play as a team together,
- 33:29Speaker 3: as well as have competition. And truly, NFL is a
- 33:33Speaker 3: great example of that, which keeps us going as human beings.
- 33:41Speaker 3: So for me, being a part of a great traditional,
- 33:47Speaker 3: you know, Games value, which teaches all of us how
- 33:52Speaker 3: do you resolve conflict? How do you work together? What
- 33:56Speaker 3: strengths do you bring? That's what it's all about. Society
- 34:00Speaker 3: works best when you can balance all this. So for me,
- 34:06Speaker 3: I think owning this team, you could really kind of
- 34:13Speaker 3: highlight these things. So for me, this is what owning
- 34:18Speaker 3: this team means because it's a great example of how
- 34:23Speaker 3: you're bringing community and you're bringing a lot of these things.
- 34:28Speaker 3: So we have a great society here. And hopefully we
- 34:33Speaker 3: can duplicate that for the rest of the world. So
- 34:36Speaker 3: that's for me.
- 34:37Speaker 2: Thank you.
- 34:41Speaker 1: Thank you, everybody, for coming.
- 34:42Speaker 5: Thank you, yes.
- 34:43Speaker 8: Thank you.