Tom Brady’s ‘final touchdown ball’ sold for $518K hours before he unretired

The new Tom Brady’s return to the NFL is a mild annoyance to most of us. Heck, it felt like a foregone conclusion No. 12 would be back. But there’s one person who is feeling extremely bad about the news — and it’s hilarious.

On Saturday night an unnamed bidder purchased the ball from Tom Brady’s final touchdown pass for $518K, according to auction site Lelands. Not even 24 hours later it turned into an ordinary touchdown ball. It has to be one of the most hilarious, precipitous drops in the value of a piece of sporting memorabilia of all time.

Normally I’m not a fan of this kind of schadenfreude, but if you’re spending $518K on a football, you clearly have more dollars than sense. Not to mention the fact that there were already lingering rumors Brady could return, with sources saying No. 12 wasn’t 100 percent sold on leaving the NFL, despite announcing his exit.

The “final touchdown pass” ball came on a 55-yarder from Brady to Mike Evans in the fourth quarter of the NFC Divisional Playoff game against the Rams. At the time it was hard to believe the ball had much significance, so Evans tossed the ball into the crowd.

Soon after it became apparent that this might be a very, very valuable piece of memorabilia — or at least, it was. The ball was never given back to Brady, now it’s been sold and kudos to the seller for moving on from this quickly and not holding it hoping it would increase in value.

Now the new owner is left holding the bag. The ball still has value, but is essentially worthless compared to the half-million paid. When Brady inevitably throws another touchdown it will become just another ball. Feel bad.