In March, following Tom Brady‘s retirement from the NFL in late January, the football from his then-last touchdown pass was sold at a Lelands auction for $518,628 — the most ever paid for a football. It was the natural closing of a loop; in June 2021, Lelands had also sold Brady’s first touchdown pass, for $428,841.
Less than 24 hours after the auction concluded, Brady — just forty days after retiring — returned to football. A month later, the half-million-dollar sale was nullified.
On Saturday, ahead of the Week 2 game between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and New Orleans Saints, that same football sold with a caveat from Lelands in the description:
“The perspective has changed, but this remains a magnificent piece nonetheless.”
It may no longer be the football from Brady’s final regular-season touchdown pass, but it’s still an expensive one. The final sale price was $129,657.
“It’s the most unique situation that we’ll probably ever encounter in our lifetimes — at least when it comes to sports memorabilia,” said Mike Heffer, president and partner at Lelands, in April when the news of the voided record sale broke. “We wanted to do the right thing.”
