New Seattle Seahawks owner makes unexpected Pittsburgh Steelers admission

Photo by Kimberly White/Getty Images for TechCrunch

New Seattle Seahawks owner makes unexpected Pittsburgh Steelers admission

Originally posted on HITC | By Divij Kulkarni | Last updated Aug 28, 2026 3:57 AM ET

In a surprising turn of events, new Seattle Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla declared himself to be a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers during the introductory press conference.

Vinod and Neeru Khosla became the new majority owners of the Seattle Seahawks after the NFL approved their purchase of the team at a $9.612 billion valuation.

The Seahawks have a new owner after almost three decades. Paul Allen purchased the team in 1997, and his sister, Jody managed them following his passing.

Seattle recently enjoyed success, winning Super Bowl LX by comfortably beating the New England Patriots. But as they prepare to enter a new era, fans got a bit of a rude surprise from their new owner.

Photo by Big Event Media/Getty Images for HumanX Conference

Vinod Khosla says he’s been a Pittsburgh Steelers fan since the 70s, still watches all their games

Buying an NFL franchise is not an opportunity which comes around often. Even for the world’s wealthiest, getting to actually purchase a team is a singularly unique opportunity.

As far as owners go, fans always hope that the person who runs their franchise loves the team as much as they do. Khosla went to the opposite end of this, revealing that he’s actually a fan of another team.

New #Seahawks owner Vinod Khosla says he’s still a Pittsburgh Steelers fan, explaining that he came to the United States in 1976, when they were dominating the sport.

“I still watch all the Steelers games, too.” https://t.co/6qc5uRYlB6 pic.twitter.com/5RMUa8gOzO
— Ari Meirov (@MySportsUpdate) August 27, 2026

“I also happened to come to this country in ’76 when the Steelers were winning the Super Bowl, so actually I was originally and still am a big Steelers fan,” Khosla said.

“Also, little known fact, but I still watch all the Steelers games, too.”

While this may be true, the choice to make this statement when taking over a different franchise is an odd one. It has already caused some turmoil among Seahawks fans online.

Seattle are poised to have more success in the future, and the ownership group likely wants that to continue. This is a fairly major faux pas to start their relationship with the franchise, though. If they suffer any immediate failures, this statement might come back to haunt Khosla.

This article first appeared on HITC and was syndicated with permission.

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