Kholsa’s never say never statement about moving the business sparked a backlash.
Sports owners should always have a public relations specialist or a minder around them giving interviews because sometimes owners say the darndest things. For instance, the new owner of the National Football League’s Seattle Seahawks franchise, Vinod Khosla, did an interview with Axios and was asked about a possible relocation of his Seattle-based business. “I will never say never,” Khosla replied. “Will this team be in Seattle 500 years from now? But I have no current plans to change anything about the team, including the coach, president, operation or Lumen Field. It all functions well.” The “I will never say never” quote got him in some hot water. Seattle has a long history of seeing teams leave the area. Major League Baseball’s Seattle Pilots franchise was moved after one season, 1969, to Milwaukee after its owners declared bankruptcy. The National Basketball Association’s Seattle SuperSonics franchise was moved by Clayton Bennett and his partners to Oklahoma City in 2008 because of what they felt was an inadequate arena. The National Hockey League promised to put an expansion team in Seattle in the mid-1970s and that didn’t happen.
The second MLB Seattle franchise, the Mariners, almost ended up in the Tampa Bay market in the 1990s. In February 1996, Seattle Seahawks business owner Ken Behring actually moved the franchise to Anaheim, California, unhappy with the Seattle stadium. Behring was also worried about Seattle being in an earthquake zone but was willing to set up shop in Anaheim which is in an earthquake zone. NFL owners blocked the move. Behring sold the team to Paul Allen. Khosla took to X and wrote. To all Seahawks fans and 12s, we have no plans to move the team, have never discussed it, haven’t even thought about it.” Kholsa did, however, take a jab at reporters for distorting his comments.
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