The Seahawks won the Super Bowl in February. Kirby Lee / Imagn Images
A group led by the Khosla family, including San Francisco 49ers minority owner Vinod Khosla, agreed to buy the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks, the estate of Paul Allen announced Saturday.
The purchase price is $9.612 billion, a league source said on condition of anonymity to discuss confidential matters. The price would be a record for an NFL franchise. The sale is subject to the approval of NFL owners.
This story will be updated.
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A record-setting number of fans in the U.S. tuned in for England’s win over Norway. Mauro Pimentel / Getty Images
Another game, another U.S. TV record.
Powered in part by England’s established U.S. fanbase and an equally widespread (if relatively newfound) fascination with World Cup uber-star Erling Haaland, Saturday’s World Cup match between England and Norway drew the largest TV audience ever for an English-language World Cup quarterfinal telecast in the U.S.
The game on Fox averaged 19.48 million viewers, with a peak of nearly 25 million during extra time.
Later that evening, Argentina-Switzerland drew just shy of 16 million viewers, making it the second most-watched English-language World Cup quarterfinal telecast in U.S. history.
That capped a superlative week of World Cup TV viewing in the U.S., including the U.S. loss to Belgium, which was the most-watched soccer game in U.S. history. Ahead of that, Mexico-England’s match-up in the round of 16 became the most-watched Spanish-language soccer broadcast in U.S. history.
One of the throughputs of the tournament has been consistently high TV ratings from U.S. viewers — on both Fox and Telemundo, which carries Spanish-language broadcasts in the U.S. — all month long, as the combination of U.S.-friendly kickoff times, star power, compelling narratives, contagious fan fervor and a revamped Nielsen audience-accounting methodology that more accurately captures factors like “out of home” viewing that is such a strong part of World Cup viewing culture.
Given the tournament’s top four seeds are playing in the semifinals — France vs. Spain on Tuesday in Dallas, England vs. Argentina on Wednesday in Atlanta — and both games feature some of the world’s most popular players, like Kylian Mbappé, Jude Bellingham and Lionel Messi, audience interest should remain high, despite mid-week, mid-afternoon kickoff times that typically keep sports TV in the U.S. from reaching record-setting levels.
But with this 2026 World Cup and its month-long run of sustained viewership, it would be folly to doubt fans’ enthusiasm to tune in.
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Aston Villa assess Pervis Estupinan, Bruno Guimaraes is not for sale, Inter Milan give up on signing Trevoh Chalobah.
AC Milan’s Ecuador left-back Pervis Estupinan, 28, is one of the targets being assessed by Aston Villa. (Mail), external
Bruno Guimaraes is viewed as not being for sale by Newcastle, despite rumours of Arsenal thinking they could get the 28-year-old Brazil midfielder for £50m. (Newcastle Chronicle), external
Inter Milan have given up on signing England defender Trevoh Chalobah as they cannot afford Chelsea‘s asking price of £30m, but Como are still interested in the 27-year-old. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian), external
Chelsea are set make an offer which could reach £21m for Rayo Vallecano‘s Spanish left-back Pep Chavarria, 28. (Marca – in Spanish), external
Roma have had an offer of 40m euros rejected by Atletico Madrid for 25-year-old Manu Kone. Manchester United and Liverpool are also interested in the France defender. (Corriere dello Sport – in Italian), external
Aston Villa, Leeds United, Sunderland, Fulham and Brighton are all interested in 20-year-old Sweden and Barcelona winger Roony Bardghji. (Sport via Sport Witness), external
Hull City and Southampton are interested in German Werder Bremen forward Justin Nijnmah, 25. (Bild – in German), external
Thomas Schjelderup’s performances for Norway at the World Cup have increased Benfica‘s asking price for the 22-year-old winger to £43m. Chelsea, Liverpool and Tottenham are interested in him. (A Bola – in Portuguese), external
Sporting, Wolves and Southampton have all had approaches turned down for Tottenham‘s 21-year-old striker Will Lankshear. He has represented England at youth level and spent last season on loan at Oxford United. (Football.London), external
Barcelona are open to selling Spain midfielder Ferran Torres, 26, to avoid having to pay his former club Manchester City about £7m if they extend his contract. (Athletic – subscription required), external
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England will make a late decision on whether Declan Rice is fit to start the World Cup semi-final against Argentina.
But there remains optimism the Arsenal midfielder can shake off the effects of an illness to play on Wednesday.
Rice, who suffered with a sickness bug in the lead-up to Saturday’s quarter-final victory over Norway in Miami, was substituted at half-time.
Head coach Thomas Tuchel admitted afterwards that Rice had spent three days in bed before the match, which England won 2-1 after extra time.
It is understood Rice still has not recovered fully from the illness – picked up in Mexico, where England beat the co-hosts 3-2 in the last 16 – but his condition has improved markedly over the past 48 hours.
As things stand, there is growing hope he will be well enough to start in Atlanta.
Rice is almost certain to rule himself fit for the semi-final given the enormity of the occasion.
But given the severity of the illness, England medics are set to make a late call on his availability.
And Tuchel will wait to see how rapidly his condition improves before making a final decision on whether to pick him.
In addition to his recovery from the sickness bug, Rice has also been carrying a neural problem for several months, affecting his lower back and hamstring.
The midfielder, who has 78 caps, has started all but one of England’s World Cup games so far, missing the 2-0 group-stage win over Panama because of an injury flare-up.
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