Deal reached to cancel $518K sale for Tom Brady’s ‘final’ TD football

The sale of the game ball used by Tom Brady for his “final” touchdown pass, which fetched more than $518,000, has been voided in a mutual agreement between Lelands Auctions, the buyer and the consigner.

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The ball’s six-figure sale came into question after Brady decided to come out of retirement 40 days after announcing the end of his 22-year NFL career -- and less than 24 hours after the Lelands Classic Auction ended. With Brady returning to the Tampa Bay Buccaneers, his first touchdown pass of the 2022 season will deflate the football’s value.

According to the Tampa Bay Times, Ron Firman, a Miami commercial real estate investor, was the winning bidder for the football. Twenty-three people bid on the game ball that was sold by Lelands. The starting bid on the ball was $100,000, the auction house stated in its auction listing. The final gavel price of $518,628 included a buyer’s premium.

“Following Tom Brady’s unretirement, and after discussions with both the buyer and consignor, we have mutually agreed to void the sale of the football,” Lelands said in a statement to Sports Collectors Daily. “The ball has not been returned to the consignor, and the plan now is for Lelands to sell it privately as per the seller’s wishes. There are multiple parties interested in purchasing the football.”

Lelands confirmed Firman as the buyer on Friday, the newspaper reported. Firman told the Times that he bought the ball with the idea of displaying it in a museum, preferably in the Pro Football Hall of Fame.

“Something that important should be in the public domain,” Firman told the Times. “My exact words were, ‘This shouldn’t be in some billionaire’s vault. This should be enjoyed by the general public.’ And I like doing that, purchasing things and having the museums be able to share them with the general public.”

>> Tom Brady’s ‘final’ TD ball sells for $518K; then QB ‘unretires’

In the NFC divisional game on Jan. 23, the seven-time Super Bowl champion connected with Mike Evans for a 55-yard touchdown with 3:20 remaining in the game, pulling Tampa Bay within seven points of the Los Angeles Rams at 27-20. Tampa Bay would tie the game, but the Rams won in overtime.

The football was thrown into the crowd by Evans, who did not know that Brady would announce his retirement a week later. It was consigned by the fan who caught it, Sports Collectors Daily reported.

“We wanted to do the right thing here,” Mike Heffner, president and partner at Lelands, told ESPN. “It’s the most unique situation that we’ll probably ever encounter in our lifetimes -- at least when it comes to sports memorabilia. We’re still not to the end of the book yet; we’ve written a chapter.”

He added that while Firman has pulled out of the transaction, the football’s consigner still plans to sell it privately through Lelands.

>> ‘I’m coming back’: Tom Brady announces return to Bucs for 23rd NFL season

Firman retained attorney Jeff Lichtman to work on voiding the sale, according to Action Network.

“At the time, it was an honest description,” Lichtman told Action Network. “Had they described it as his last one, as of now, there would have been little recourse. But the way they described it, it was definitive.”

Heffner said that even though the ball’s value had dropped considerably, there were still people who reached out to buy it, ESPN reported.

“It’s still an incredible piece of history,” Heffner said. “Any Brady touchdown ball is.”

>> Tom Brady announces retirement

Heffner said it took a month to officially announce the sale because the parties involved wanted to be certain that Brady was returning to action.

“All parties were waiting to see how it played out,” Heffner told ESPN. “Tom Brady, let’s face it, is kind of unpredictable these days. Until he throws that first touchdown pass in September, this ball is still the record.”

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