Allen helps Seattle be super

A quarter-century ago, Microsoft was a fledgling software company, and the Seattle Seahawks were a struggling new franchise.

By Sunday night, both could be considered to be at the pinnacle of their respective fields, thanks in large part to billionaire Paul Allen.

Mr. Allen, the co-founder of Microsoft and the owner of the Seahawks, on Sunday will watch his team play the Pittsburgh Steelers in Super Bowl XL at Ford Field in Detroit — the first appearance in the National Football League’s title game in franchise history.

Since leaving Microsoft in 1983, Mr. Allen became chairman of Charter Communications, a major cable company, and has grown numerous ventures under the umbrella company Vulcan Inc.

But a Super Bowl win for the Seahawks could, in some ways, be Mr. Allen’s greatest success, considering that he bought the team after eight straight seasons without a playoff berth. Mr. Allen took over the Seahawks after Ken Behring, the team’s frustrated owner, threatened to move the franchise out of Seattle.

“Mr. Allen saved this franchise,” said Mack Strong, the Seahawks’ veteran fullback. “I was on the team in 1996 when we had basically packed our bags and moved down to Anaheim [California]. He stepped in when approached by city officials to put a bid up to purchase the team and take us in a different direction. That’s exactly what he has done.”

Mr. Allen paid $194 million for the Seahawks in 1997. The franchise now is worth $823 million, according to Forbes magazine, thanks in large part to a lucrative deal with the city that resulted in the construction of a new stadium in 2002.

But Mr. Allen also raised the team’s profile and football credibility in 1999 by hiring as coach Mike Holmgren, who was only one year removed from the second of back-to-back Super Bowl appearances as coach of the Green Bay Packers.

The Seahawks reached the playoffs in Holmgren’s first year but didn’t win a postseason game until last month — the club’s first playoff victory since 1984. Now, they are one win away from the franchise’s first championship.

“The Seahawks are a wonderful story,” said Paul Swangard, director of the Warsaw Sports Marketing Center at the University of Oregon. “If you look at that franchise now, it’s a success story for him.”

Mr. Allen hasn’t talked much about his team, allowing the praise to be heaped on Holmgren, quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and running back Shaun Alexander, the NFL’s Most Valuable Player Award winner. He appears to prefer it that way, making only occasional public statements and posting letters on his personal Web site.

Fellow businesspeople and Seattle’s city leaders often claim they know his work but don’t know him personally.

“It’s not like I’m beer buddies with the guy,” said Steve Leahy, president of the Greater Seattle Chamber of Commerce. “I’ve literally met him once.”

Yet, Mr. Allen has made a huge impact on Seattle and the Pacific Northwest. Last year, Mr. Allen gave away nearly $1 billion, most of it through the Paul G. Allen Family Foundations, which focuses on education, scientific and cultural needs in the region. In many ways, his philanthropic and business efforts are intertwined.

“From technology to science to music to art, I’m inspired by those who’ve blurred the boundaries, who’ve looked at the possibilities, and said, ’What if …?’” Mr. Allen wrote recently on his Web site. “The varied possibilities of the universe have dazzled me since I was a child, and they continue to drive my work, my investments, and my philanthropy.”

Vulcan is involved in millions of dollars’ worth of real estate projects near Seattle’s downtown, plus a large biotech fund that Seattle officials said could put the city in the top tier of technology hubs. He also founded the Experience Music Project, a museum in downtown Seattle inspired by his idol, late guitarist Jimi Hendrix.

“It’s very noticeable,” said Anita Woo, a spokeswoman for the Downtown Seattle Association, a group of businesses devoted to revitalizing the city’s urban core. “There are some major projects that we expect to really enhance the neighborhood.”

Not everything Mr. Allen touches has turned out well. The Portland Trail Blazers lost more than $30 million last season and were the only team in the National Basketball Association to lose value, according to Forbes magazine. The Blazers in recent years have been better known for the discipline problems of their players than their on-court successes.

Mr. Allen’s Charter Communications also has had a troubled history. After acquiring a controlling interest in the company in 1998, Mr. Allen oversaw an acquisition spree that resulted last year in the indictment of four former executives for improper accounting. He never was implicated in the scandal, but investors and analysts frowned on the amount of debt that Mr. Allen allowed the company to accumulate.

“Since he left Microsoft, his track record has been spotty,” said Ted Henderson, an analyst with Stifel Nicolaus & Company who conducts research about Charter. “He has not been as successful.”

Analysts point to his management style, which rarely focuses on the details. In the case of Charter, Mr. Allen envisioned a cross-country network delivering high-speed Internet, television and phone services. It is a vision that only now is starting to bear fruit.

“His approach has been big-picture oriented,” Mr. Henderson said. “He’s the visionary.”

Still, Mr. Allen appears to demand accountability. As chairman of Charter, he has overseen three major overhauls to management. Last year, Mr. Allen fired Bob Whitsitt, a close friend who served as president of the Seahawks and had been with him since he bought the team.

Mr. Allen hired Tod Leiweke, a veteran of professional sports in Minnesota, as chief executive officer of the team. The move was a key reason that the Seahawks finally advanced in the playoffs this season.

“He’s very involved, very on top of what’s going on,” said Tim Ruskell, the Seahawks’ president of football operations. “He’ll offer advice and counsel. But he lets us do our jobs. It’s very much his team. He wants a culture of winning in the building. We do everything we can to implement that.”

• David Elfin contributed to this article from Detroit.