EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsSEATTLE -- As the Khosla family takes over the Super Bowl-champion Seattle Seahawks, the approach of the franchise's new controlling owners will be to not mess with a good thing.That was a clear theme as Vinod Khosla, his wife Neeru and their son Neal spoke during an introductory news conference Wednesday at Lumen Field ahead of the Seahawks' season opener against the New England Patriots."We do have great management," Vinod Khosla said. "They got us to the Super Bowl. By the way, how often do you get to buy a team that just won the Super Bowl? So the best thing we can do is not mess with a lot. But we will be working closely with management. I don't think our approach is going to be telling them what to do. Our approach will be lots of discussions, then leave it to management to decide, whether they agree with us or not."I'm very much a fan of handing them the baton and let them to do their thing and take responsibility for the results, which hopefully is another Super Bowl very soon, this year."The Khoslas spoke to reporters in Atlanta on Aug. 26 after NFL owners unanimously approved their group's purchase of the Seahawks from Paul Allen's estate. The $9.612 billion sale -- a record price for an NFL team -- closed last Thursday.But Wednesday's marked the Khoslas' first comments to the local media at large, and it offered the first indications of how they plan to work in conjunction with general manager John Schneider, head coach Mike Macdonald and the rest of the organizational brass."You always want to have lots of discussions, lots of ideas, lots of debate," Vinod Khosla said. "But then the people in charge of executing should have the baton to make the decision, because if they haven't made the decision, they won't be as committed to it. That's a very important management philosophy. The person responsible for executing should buy into the decision, make the decision after plenty of debate and ideas and interaction."Vinod Khosla, 71, sat in the middle of the trio and answered the majority of the questions. The co-founder of Sun Microsystems and founder of venture capital firm Khosla Ventures, Vinod Khosla has the title of chair. Neal Khosla, 33, is vice chair. Neeru Khosla's title is controlling owner and president of the Seahawks Charitable Foundation."We are a super close-knit family," Vinod Khosla said. "... Neeru is very passionate about education. She's had a non-profit in education for 20 years -- which, by the way serves 30 to 40 million children worldwide every year ... so she'll be more focused in the community efforts and the foundation efforts for the Seahawks foundations. Neal and I will probably operate relatively interchangeably. We stay in close touch. We talk every single day practically. We hang out a lot together, so you'll see us operate as if we are one entity."The family plans to be in the Seattle-area often, but they won't move from their homes in the Bay Area -- Neal lives in San Francisco, Vinod and Neeru near Palo Alto."I suspect we'll be here a fair amount," Vinod Khosla said. "We haven't laid out a schedule. We don't want to get in anybody's way per se, but [we'll] be here enough where we are available always. I won't be calling Mike Macdonald just before the game."Neal Khosla is the CEO of Curai Health, an AI-powered virtual primary care clinic. Neeru Khosla co-founded the CK-12 Foundation, a non-profit that uses AI tutors as part of its aim to reduce education costs.Part of Vinod Khosla's outfit offered a potential glimpse into how the team's new owners may lean into artificial intelligence. He wore a pair of black and blue shoes complete with a Seahawks logo. He said ChatGPT designed them and found him someone in Italy who could make them in time for the Seahawks' opener.Vinod Khosla said that while robots won't be replacing anyone at Seahawks headquarters, the family has talked extensively with the organization about leveraging AI -- including in football operations."I think one of the great things about John and Mike is they're always chasing edges, they're always looking for what they can do to gain advantages," Neal Khosla said. "If we can be helpful, we'd love to bring those perspectives. But as my dad said, it's how do we have discussions, how do we push each other. They have to make decisions ... We're not here to make decisions about how AI gets used in football. I think we're here to have those conversations and hopefully bring some new ideas."Neal Khosla said the team's white throwback jerseys - the road version of the royal blue throwbacks they brought back in 2023 - will return in 2027.The Khosla family has already been more visible than Jody Allen was during the eight years she spent in control of the Seahawks following her brother Paul Allen's death in 2018. That includes Vinod Khosla's presence on the social media platform X, where he's engaged with fans and shot back at a post from Barstool Sports. The outlet criticized Khosla for saying after the sale was approved that he was and remains a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers, the team he began following when he immigrated to the United States from India in 1976."I don't always engage but I am trying to be approachable," he said. "Social media is interesting because the two fringes respond, and so you have to be very careful of when you respond and when you don't. You want to speak to the bulk of the people, not the extremes. I will continue to be active. I'm not spending an hour a day on social media. It's mostly on weekends, but I will continue to engage and continue to speak out on important issues."I have a very direct style and you will continue to see that. You won't see a lot of hypocritical politeness from me. I prefer brutal honesty, calling people [out] when they need to be called out or complimenting people when they need to be complimented, so all sides."The Khosla family is in the process of relinquishing its minority stake in the San Francisco 49ers.Eight months ago, Vinod and Neal Khosla made their first trip to Lumen Field. They sat in the stands behind the 49ers' sideline and watched the Seahawks hand their NFC West rivals a 41-6 loss in the divisional round of the playoffs."One of my reflections coming out of that was I don't know that I've ever been in a venue this loud and this passionate, and it's a 30-point game in the fourth quarter," Neal Khosla said. "You see how special the fanbase is. I think we walked away like, 'Oh my god, this is built different.' That was kind of the first cue to us that this franchise has something really special in how it's connected to the community and what the fanbase is and how they show up for games and ultimately how it helps the team on the field."
