Just a few days after the Seattle Seahawks were celebrating Super Bowl glory, the franchise was officially put up for sale. For weeks, whispers around the league linked Mark Zuckerberg to a potential minority stake in the team. But just as the speculation started heating up, Zuckerberg quietly backed away from the conversation. Now that this lucrative opportunity is up for grabs once again, a billionaire with connections to the Seahawks’ fiercest NFC West rivals is reportedly preparing to make a move.

Billionaire investor Vinod Khosla is “prepping a bid to buy the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks,” according to Sportico‘s Scott Soshnick and Eben Novy-Williams. Reportedly, Khosla has submitted a letter of intent as part of the process to buy the Seahawks.

The entrepreneur, whose net worth is estimated at $14.5 billion, is known for owning a stake in the San Francisco 49ers. Because of NFL ownership rules, he would need to sell that stake if he wants to complete a purchase of the Seahawks.

Khosla is of Indian origin and came to the U.S. in his early 20s. He earned his MBA from Stanford University and co-founded Sun Microsystems in 1982, serving as its first CEO. His venture capital career started at Kleiner Perkins, after which he launched Khosla Ventures in 2004. Today, this firm also owns companies like Affirm, Opendoor, and DoorDash.

The Seahawks are currently valued at $6.59 billion, although many expect the final sale price to go even higher, between 9 billion and $11 billion. For comparison, the most expensive NFL control sale remains the Washington Commanders, which sold for $6.05 billion. Khosla was also one of the local investors who had bought into the team for a value higher than $8.5 billion.

With Zuckerberg backing out, Khosla’s main competition is the duo of Aditya Mittal and Wyc Grousbeck. Mittal is the CEO of ArcelorMittal, the world’s largest steel and mining company. Grousbeck is better known as the former controlling owner of the Boston Celtics.

The Seahawks are now under sale through the estate of the deceased owner, Paul Allen, who died in 2018. His will states that all sports-related assets must eventually be sold for philanthropic purposes, including the Seattle Seahawks and the NBA’s Portland Trail Blazers. Since his death, his sister Jody Allen has overseen the teams. The Trail Blazers were recently sold for $4.1 billion to a group led by Tom Dundon.

However, with names like Mark Zuckerberg in contention, it was easy to tab him as the biggest player. But the billionaire, very surprisingly, took himself out of an opportunity that would have been one of a kind for him.

Why did Mark Zuckerberg not follow through?

Up until last week, Zuckerberg seemed to be very much in the mix for buying the team. But a spokesperson for Meta debunked the speculation surrounding this move.

“Glad we could intercept the rumors on this one, Mark is not making any investment or bid for the Seattle Seahawks,” a spokesperson for Meta said.

Even though Zuckerberg’s net worth is estimated at around $208 billion, owning an NFL team never seemed like a logical move for him. Most of his business experience and investments remain focused on the tech world. The 41-year-old was once linked to buying the famed EPL club Tottenham Hotspur, but that move also never happened.

The same goes for Tim Cook, who was also rumored to be interested in the Seahawks. He is expected to step down from Apple later this year after leading the company for 15 years. A source close to Cook later denied the idea of him buying into the Seahawks and called the report (from Front Office Sports) “completely false.”

Now, former Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer has become the strongest name connected to the franchise. BetOnline lists Ballmer as the frontrunner to buy the Seahawks, while Polymarket Sports gives him a 45% chance of becoming majority owner. Ballmer’s ties to Seattle make the rumors feel more believable. He was close friends with the late  Seahawks owner Paul Allen during their time at Microsoft and still lives in Hunts Point, Washington, with his family.

It only makes sense for someone with natural ties to the team to become its new owner. Who gets to run this Super Bowl-winning team now will be an interesting storyline in the near future.