When one eager bidder spent over half-a-million dollars on Tom Brady’s final touchdown ball, they probably thought they were making one of the greatest investments of their lives. After all, we’re talking about the GOAT of football. Of the 710 touchdown passes he delivered, this was supposed to be the final, and perhaps most important, of them all.
Heck, some even believed that it could go for closer to $1-million! So when the bidder got it for a little over half of that, at $518,000, they were probably pretty stoked.
What they probably never even contemplated was the possibility of Tom Brady returning for a 23rd season after announcing his retirement one month earlier…
But wouldn’t you know it? Not even 24 hours after the ball sold at a Lelands auction, Brady was taking to Twitter to announce that he was coming back for another season. Great news for the Buccaneers and for NFL fans in general… Terrible news for one poor bidder, who watched his prized possession lose practically all of its value within a day.
How much value did the ball lose, exactly? According to one auction expert, a little less than $500,000, as the ball is now believed to be worth somewhere in the neighborhood of $25,000 to $50,000.
Via TMZ:
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“Tom Brady’s unretirement just cost a collector a small fortune … with one auction expert telling TMZ Sports the QB’s “final” TD ball is now worth a mere $50K — after it sold for over $500K just three days ago…
“In fact, our source tells us they wouldn’t be surprised if the ball was actually worth closer to $25K than $50K at this point.”
Yikes! It’s not all bad news for the winning bidder, though. Apparently, he has an out, as the ball was advertised to be Brady’s “final” touchdown ball, which it clearly no longer is.
“Our source tells us the ball was advertised as Brady’s last TD ever — and now, since it won’t be, the buyer could have a legitimate claim to renege on the deal. Our source also says it’s likely the buyer is a whale in the auction world, and the auction house that sold the piece would almost certainly fight to keep him or her happy.”
It’s not often that you’re able to get out of a bad investment like this. If this is true and the bidder is able to back out of this deal, they should thank their lucky stars…and maybe next time think twice before spending $518K on a “final TD ball” for a player who was knowingly considering a comeback all along.
