Spokane nonprofit offers $43,542 to buy the Seahawks

Spokane, WA | March 9, 2026- A Spokane nonprofit has submitted what may be one of the most unusual bids in the history of professional sports.

Family Promise of Spokane has formally offered $43,542 to purchase the Seattle Seahawks.

Yes, forty-three thousand, five hundred forty-two dollars for a team worth an estimated $9 billion.

The number isn’t random. It was chosen intentionally to represent one dollar for every school-aged child experiencing homelessness in Washington State this year.

That symbolic number grew out of an idea that started much more casually.

The idea began as an office joke. When staff heard the Seahawks might be for sale, someone joked that the nonprofit should buy the team. But the longer the conversation went on, the more the joke revealed something real: just how powerful the Seahawks’ platform could be in changing lives across Washington.

The organization fully acknowledges the bid is unlikely to compete with offers expected to reach billions of dollars. But that’s exactly the point.

“We know we’re not going to outbid billionaires,” said Joe Ader, CEO of Family Promise of Spokane. “This isn’t about buying the team. It’s about showing that the number of kids experiencing homelessness in our state should shock us a lot more than our offer does.”

The proposal was submitted to Jody Allen, Chair of the Seattle Seahawks and Trustee of the Paul G. Allen Trust, and invites the Seahawks ownership group to partner with Family Promise to tackle one of the region’s most pressing challenges: family homelessness.

In the letter, Family Promise proposes an alternative idea: if purchasing the team isn’t realistic, the organization suggests dedicating a small percentage of Seahawks ownership or revenue toward ending family homelessness in Washington.

The nonprofit estimates:

• $13+ million dollars per year could end family homelessness in Spokane County.

• Approximately $816 million dollars could eliminate homelessness for every one of the 43,000+ school aged children and their families experiencing homelessness across Washington State.

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While those numbers may appear large, Ader says they become far more achievable when compared to the economic scale of professional sports.

“Professional sports have enormous influence,” Ader said. “Imagine if even a small portion of that platform and revenue were directed toward ensuring every child in Washington has a safe place to call home.”

According to Family Promise, just 1% of the Seahawks’ annual revenue would roughly double the organization’s operating budget, dramatically expanding prevention services, shelter capacity, and housing stabilization for families in Spokane County.

Family Promise is calling on Seahawks fans, famously known as the 12, to rally behind their team in this new statewide mission.

“Though the Seahawks may have Seattle in their name, the entire state carries the team in its heart,” Ader said. “What if the 12 helped ensure that every child in Washington had a home?”

The nonprofit hopes the proposal sparks a broader conversation about how major sports organizations can partner with communities to solve complex social issues.

“Our offer probably won’t win the Seahawks,” Ader said. “But if it helps win the idea that homelessness is solvable, then it’s a pretty good play.”