EMERGENCY POD! Seahawks Minority Owners Named

0:00Hello everybody, welcome to an emergency podcast edition of Hot Quaker Morning, Zion Brian. I'm Houser. I'm back with you just a little bit after being with you this morning. We had a fun talking first look about the C.O.X and the Patriots. And now we have got the finalization of the C.O.X being sold to the Coastal of Family. That news just came out a matter of minutes ago and in that news was the names of every minority owner and there is a long list of them. Let's get to know our minority owners as well. There's some interesting names in that list. I will go through them with you here in just a sec. This episode is brought to you by PrizePix. It is also brought to you by Pemco Insurance My. Our homeowners insurance for many, many years. And no rest for the weary, my friends. My goodness. The C.O.X have the news fast and furious comment at you and right now literally, let's see.

1:0717 minutes ago, we got the press release from the C.O.X. that the deal with the Coastal of Family is complete. And we have this statement from the Coastal of Family that says, quote, we are honored and excited to begin this next chapter. The C.O.X are known for their championship culture, winning football and a deep connection to the 12s and the Pacific Northwest. We look forward to engaging with the Seattle community and building upon the legacy and traditions that make this franchise so special. We would like to extend our gratitude to the investors, joining our ownership group and to everyone who has supported us throughout the sale process. And quote, it then goes on to say, Vinod Kostla, founder of Coastal Ventures, will hold the title of Chair. Nero Kostla, his wife, will be the controlling owner and president of the C.O.X. charitable foundation. I got to dig a little bit more on that. I don't know if that's a pre-existing thing or new.

2:09We will check in on that. And then Neil Kostla will have the title of Vice Chair, Vinod Kostla Chair, Nero Kostla, controlling owner and president of the C.O.X. charitable foundation, Neil Kostla Vice Chair. So interesting. I think that's interesting. A little bit more clarity there. There's people that thought Vinod Kostla was maybe not going to be as involved. As the Chair, Chair seems like he's going to be involved. So anyone thinking otherwise, maybe you got to wake up call with this. But then this is probably the part that is the most interesting. They have the list of all the co-owners. And I don't know that they're required to disclose this. I don't know the rules on that, but they have disclosed them. So either way, we have that information. I will go through each of those co-owners' names and what I was able to find about them relatively quickly. This is not the end all be all. There might be information that we find out later.

3:11I'm just going to share what I found because I'm guessing you guys are curious the same way I was curious. So we might as well have the same information. Before I do that, it also was announced that there will be a press conference. So next Wednesday at Lumen Field, I will be there in attendance to have the press conference with the Kostla family. So that will be in the morning before the football game going to be interesting to get a chance to meet them face to face and have some conversations via the press conference and who knows where else. So, wow. Big stuff. This is really big, monumental stuff. But let's go through the list of names of who are the minority owners and what I was able to find about them in a quick 10 minutes of web searching. First name on the list is Mark Stevens.

4:11Mark Stevens is the former managing partner of venture capital firm Sequoia Capital. He currently heads up S. Cubes Capital and he has sports ownership experience as a minority owner in the Golden State Warriors. So Mark Stevens, I want to do one more look here. I thought they were maybe on a podcast that I saw together, but I want to double check. I think it might have been the guy that was on the podcast I saw, but I'm not positive. Let me take a quick look. I can't tell. I'm not going to say for sure. It doesn't really matter, but interesting. So he obviously in the same space, inventor capital that Vinod is in. Next name on the list. Well, not the next name, but the next person that's that I'm going to name.

5:11Samir Cowell, K-A-U-L. He is a founding general partner and managing director of Coastal Avengers. He's worked with Vinod Coastal for nearly two decades in venture capital. So this is someone he obviously has trust with prior working experience and gave the opportunity for him to get involved in this venture as well. Sunny Gupta is a Seattle area technology entrepreneur and he is best known for being the founder and former CEO of aptio, APPTIO. That was a Bellevue based enterprise software company that was acquired by IBM for $4.6 billion. So Sunny Gupta, Bellevue roots part of the ownership group. Nadir 90, N-A-I-N-I.

6:15Managing partner at Frazier Healthcare Partners. This is also a Seattle based private equity and venture capital firm, but they're focused on the healthcare sector. I am curious if I'm going to do a quick look to see if they were involved in Niels was involved in Curie Health. I'm going to see if Frazier Healthcare Partners at all was part of the funding group for Niel Coastal's company that he currently is CEO for. And I'll let you know what I find there, but that's another Seattle based connection for Nadir. From what we can find, my quick search does not look like Frazier Healthcare Partners was

7:15part of that funding round for Niels company. So those are the tech and venture capital kind of folks. Then this is where it gets kind of interesting folks. There's some other names on this list. So first of the kind of non-tech specific, Penny Pritzker, P-R-I-T-Z-K-E-R. She is a billionaire business woman philanthropist and former US Secretary of Commerce under the Obama administration. She is also an heir to the Chicago based Pritzker family fortune, which is the Hyatt Hotel group and founder of PSP Partners. So Penny Pritzker, that was another big name to be adding to this list. And former US Secretary of Commerce is a really interesting one. And the Hyatt Hotel's one is interesting. I'm curious how that will fit into sponsorships, you know, anything else that comes from travel

8:22related stuff for the C-Ox. This next one I am going to have trouble pronouncing the name. It is ARAM-B-U-R-U-Z-A-B-A-L-A. Aram Baruzabala, the Aram Baruzabala family. This is, and that's what it's listed as. It's not a specific name, it's just the family. And this is one of Mexico's wealthiest and most powerful business families. It's led by Maria Sun, M-A-R-I-A-S-U-N. Maria Sun, Aram Baruzabala, a billionaire investor and CEO of Trecellia, T-R-E-S-A-L-I-A, Trecellia Capital. And their fortune comes from Grupo Madela Brewing. So that to me is really interesting. Obviously, you know, if you have any familiarity with beers, if you know beer, you know the

9:37Modela family, you know Corona, you know all of those. So that is Grupo Madela. They are now co-owners of, or my ornate owners of the Seahawks. Another name. Val Blavatic, Blavaticnick. Sorry, I'm butchering these. Val I get. The last name is B-L-A-V-A-T-N-I-K. Val is a member of the executive committee at Access Industries. This was a conglomerate founded by his billionaire father, Len Blavaticnick. And leads global media and tech investments for the firm and serves on the board of directors for Warner Music. Okay? So that's another, like these are pretty, these are pretty big names and pretty big companies

10:39that are now getting their feet wet with the Seahawks. Gonzalo Hevia Balaris. G-O-N-Z-A-L-O-H-E-V-I-A-B-A-I-L-E-R-E-S. This is another, someone from Mexico, a Mexican tech entrepreneur and heir to the Balaris family controls group O-Ball. They have a big, it's a big conglomerate, but they have holdings in mining and retail and insurance. So I don't know much about their business, but this is what I was able to find in quick snooping around, not snooping around. The last two of the individuals at least, Cheryl Sokoloff, S-O-K-O-L-O-F, a major philanthropist and prominent political donor, she's married to Jonathan Sokoloff, managing partner of the Los Angeles-based private equity powerhouse Leonard Green and Partners.

11:41Okay? I'm curious, let's see what Cheryl Sokoloff, um, I'm sure you're going to be able to find a job. So what work is, um, what did Cheryl Sokoloff spend a lot of her time in philanthropy doing? Gonna do a quick look on that. And what do we find? So largely as educational initiatives, so this is probably related to Nero, disability services. Let's go Holocaust remembrance, okay? With that and substantial political contributions. Um, so she served on the parent committee for the righteous, conservative, conversations, connect students and opportunities to carry the Holocaust remembrance with film, music and new media, disability services. She and her husband are supporters of exceptional children's foundation, ECF, organization dedicated providing educational, therapeutic and employment service for children and

12:45adults facing developmental learning and emotional disabilities. That sounds really interesting. And then family and joint therapy through her husband's board memberships and their joint family giving serves on the board of directors of the melanoma research alliance and trustee for both Williams College and Los Angeles County Museum of Art. Okay. Um, so that's interesting. Okay? And then last person on the list, Jesse Vanderwerf, a Canadian. Hey, Jeff, a Canadian who's gonna be on the Jeff Simmons show in about half an hour on this channel. Um, Canadian business leader and president and CEO of heavy metal equipment and rentals based in Alberta. Companies one of the largest privately owned heavy equipment rental firms in North America. So those are all kind of the individuals or families. And then there's also, and this sets off a lot of people private equity. Every NFL team is going to have private equity involved.

13:47If you don't think that's true, just wait. It's happening. It's already been happening. The sea ox or not the first and will not be the last two private equity firms, sixth street, which is a San Francisco based investment firm and they have holdings. They've stakes in the Patriots already. So they're going to have a stake in both teams playing next week. They own a stake in the San Antonio Spurs FC Barcelona. And so they're taking a 3% stake. Carlyle and dynasty equity. And this is also taking a 3% stake and it's one of the largest private equity firms. They recently bought 97% of the Seattle rain. The soccer team if you don't know that. So that's interesting. Dynasty equity is specialized sports investment firm that also holds a minority stake in Liverpool FC. So the private equity stuff, I'll just want to go over the rules again for people.

14:49Like these folks have no voting power, no ability to influence what goes on with the organization. They have to hold this investment for a certain period of time. They let me put this up again. I want to get all the rules right. So. Yeah, I know that there's some folks that decide that this is like the end of days. I just think it's cost to do in business when you're a $10 billion asset at this point. But the most that private equity can own of a NFL team is 10%. Sounds like the sea ox are selling 10% or sorry, 6% of the sea ox sale is from private equity. They have a minimum stake of 3%.

15:49They have to have at least 3%. It is strictly passive ownership. They have zero voting rights, zero say in football or business operations. They have a 16 rule, a single private equity firm can only hold up to six different equity stakes in and six different franchises. And there's only a there's pre approved funds only so they can't just like shop this around the NFL has approved a certain list. Those are the ones that are able to do it. There are two of the ones that did it. And there's other rules about committed capital that I don't think anybody here really cares about. But it is just the way this works now. I don't think this is that that crazy. It is, you know, I think there's a whole thing you could do about private equity in the way it works and all that stuff, but I don't want to get into that here.

16:51I'm sure some people will. But I think the names that really stand out to me are Penny Pritzker. You know, I think having somebody with government connections is an interesting one, especially someone who's worked as Secretary of Commerce. I think it's also interesting that there's a lot of philanthropic folks involved in this. Penny Pritzker is one. Cheryl Sokoloff is one. There's a few others in here. Also, there's two families from Mexico involved. That is interesting. A little international flavor. Does that mean the sea ox have a better chance of playing a game in Mexico City, which I would be happy to go down and see? I don't know. But a group of Madelo, that kind of connection, does that affect anything? I certainly love a Negro Madelo myself on occasion.

17:53Corona is always great. And then the other piece being, you know, Cheryl Sokoloff and her connection, which is probably to Nero, Kosla, and some of the educational stuff and the disability stuff, that's really, really cool from my perspective. A little bit of Seattle flavor in Sunny Gupta and Nadir Naini, who both have firms in the Seattle or Bellevue area. But generally speaking, most of these folks are out of the state. So that's what we kind of know to this point. And I wanted to get this out to you guys, because I think a lot of folks were curious. I was curious. I will learn more about it and share more when I find out more.

18:54But the deal's done. If you have new owners, we are going to be able to see them at the game next week, which is great. And we'll learn more about all of them together. We're learning more about them as we go. But it's a long list of co-owners. And generally, like what power do co-owners have? I want to see if there's any rules about that real quick. I'd look this up before. I had read that there are teams trying to sell hundreds of millions of dollars of equity into an NFL franchise. And all that you got for it was essentially a suite, like a parking spot, but really not much else.

19:55Here's what we know about co-ownership rules. So you've got the principal owner, which is what the coastlines are. And they have to have at least a 30% equity stake. We don't know how much of an equity stake the coastlines have, but they have to have at least 30%. They have all the voting power for the franchise at league meetings. So none of the co-owners have any voting power. Minority owners do not get a vote on league matters, rule changes, expansion, commissioner, any of that. The principal owner has final state over all football and business operations from hiring, general managers, head coaches, stadium negotiations, all that stuff. That's the principal owner. Now co-owners, minority owners, there's a limit. You can have that maximum 25 in the ownership group. And they're not close to that number, but that's part of why people that are like, oh, I should have crowdsourced this and everybody would have chipped in. You can't do the Green Bay model anymore.

20:58That's not allowed. It's against the rules. Green Bay is grandfathered in, but you can't have thousands of co-owners. You can only have 25. So they provide capital, but they are essentially silent partners. They can't overrule the principal on football operations. They can't represent the team in league meetings. Any influence of minority individual has is strictly internal and based on specific partnership agreement they signed when buying in. So for example, they might negotiate financial veto rights regarding taking on massive team debt or selling the franchise, but they have no authority over how the team is actually run. So they do have a little bit more than the private equity folks do, but that sounds like there can be kind of some custom rules in there. That's why I wonder when a family that has connections to Group of Modelo is part of theirs that the exclusive beer provider is going to be their company or something like

22:00that. I don't know. We'll find out. So yeah, it does feel like there's a little bit there, but keep in mind, the coasts were just minority owners in the 49ers. They're no longer a lot of perspective future owners of NFL teams become minority owners because it allows them to get vetted and approved initially and then eventually become their own controlling owner. So that's kind of where things are at this point. And yeah, it's fascinating. It's fascinating watching this all evolve and we're going to find out. We're going to find out how the owners interact if there's any visibility for the other owners at all. Generally, I think this is going to be a coastless show. The fact that the note is the chair, I think, is how he's been acting and he's the one

23:04that's speaking at the league meeting where they're approved. He's the one tweeting all the time. I think this is his show and the other folks are part of it certainly, but maybe doing like Neil might do day to day, but I would bet Vinod has a lot of say over what actually happens with that. Let's hear a few quick things from our sponsors. Let's start by figuring out if you want to get tickets for this game. There's a good place to go to do that. That's what he tells you. Football season can mean a lot of sitting on your couch. Sponsored today's video, Seeky deserves a huge shout out for helping us get out of the house. Seeky is the number one rated ticketing app with over 35 million downloads. There are more than 70,000 events listed on Seeky, including concerts, sports, festivals and more. Football seasons officially hear the NBA and NHL seasons right around the corner.

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26:08Definitely try. I know Evan used the promo code for Chubbies and just got himself some shorts. So feel free. This is this is kind of the way of NFL ownership. Now when you're talking about $10 billion, you're going to be getting multiple owners in the groups. You're going to be getting private equity as part of it. And expect. Expect there to be a lot of analysis over the co owners. I think there are going to be a lot of stories. People are going to have a lot of takes. My general approach to this will continue to be the coast. Those are what matter. Let's see how they handle this. They seem loyal and that a lot of the folks that are in this membership group, this ownership group seem like they have prior ties to the coast. And they're excited. That's very clear how they're going to manage it. We're going to all find out together very soon.

27:08All right, that will do it for this episode, this emergency podcast edition of Hawk Blogger Mornings. Jeff Simmons with Rob Staten will be with you in about 10 minutes for the Jeff Simmons show. Thank you all for tuning in. I will see you all very soon.