The Seattle Kings Would Lose Out on Their Bid To Become a NFL Franchise

Published on April 25th, 2025 7:09 pm EST
Written By: Dave Manuel


Did you know that the Seattle Seahawks were almost the "Seattle Kings"?

Seattle had been pining for a professional football team since the late 1950s.

In 1969, businessman Wayne Field formally threw his hat into the ring, starting up a company that he hoped would become home to a brand-new NFL franchise.

Field and his partners came up with a name for the perspective Seattle NFL franchise in the early 1970s - the "Kings". The name worked for a number of reasons, including the fact that the team would play their games at the "Kingdome" in the state of Washington.

In the early 1970s, opportunity struck as the NFL merged with the American Football League. The newly merged league wanted two new teams and Seattle was considered a front-runner, along with Tampa, Phoenix and Memphis.

In an effort to bolster their bid, Field brought in other equity investors, including Ed Nixon, the brother of the current (at the time) President, Richard Nixon.

In late spring of 1974, the NFL awarded franchises to Tampa and Seattle.

The issue? There were two competing bids for the Seattle franchise - the Field bid, as well as a bid from a group that included Lloyd Nordstrom.

The NFL apparently had some bad news for the two Seattle bids - the expansion fee was reportedly set at 60% higher than previously anticipated.

This was a problem for the Field group, which was underfunded.

The Nordstrom-led group, however, had plenty of money, and they would eventually win the Seattle bid by default after the Field group pulled out.

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The winning group announced that there were too many "Kings" in professional sports, and that they would be holding a contest to name the team.

There were over a thousand different ideas for the new name of Seattle's NFL franchise. In the end, "Seahawks" won out.