A ball that was billed as Tom Brady’s last touchdown ball that was sold a month ago for $518,000 won’t be sold after all.
Attorney Jeffrey Lichtman, who represented the collector who originally agreed to buy the ball, told Action Network that auctioneer Lelands has agreed, per his client’s wishes, not to go through with the sale.
The ball, from the NFC Divisional Round playoff game in which the Tampa Bay Buccaneers lost to the eventual champion Los Angeles Rams, sold on the evening of March 12th.
Brady unretired the next day.
Lichtman said when the winner of the ball heard that Brady had unretired, he was “genuinely mortified” and wanted the sale voided.
It helped that the buyer, who wishes to remain anonymous, never paid. It also helped, Lichtman said, that Lelands clearly described it as Brady’s last.
“At the time, it was an honest description,” Lichtman said. “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.”
Lichtman said Lelands, “did the right thing.”
“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,” auction house Lelands said, in a statement. “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.”
