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Tom Brady Retirement: Analyzing His Card Market

Jason Koeppel // ONE37pm

Tom Brady has officially retired after 22 seasons in the NFL despite rumors that he may change his mind. At 44 years old, he led the reigning Super Bowl Champion Tampa Bay Buccaneers to a tough divisional-round loss to the eventual Super Bowl Champions after an MVP-like season of 5,316 passing yards, 43 touchdowns to 12 interceptions, and a 13–4 regular season. 

Brady has been the primary starting QB for the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers for 20 seasons and in that time has: 

Took his team to the playoffs in 19 seasons. 

Won 18 divisional titles. 

Played in 13 AFC Championship games and 1 NFC Championship game. 

Played in 10 Super Bowls. 

Won 7 Super Bowls. 

He’s won 35 playoff games. That’s more than two full NFL seasons’ worth of games in playoff wins alone. 

Tom Brady's rookie cards exploded in 2021 with the possibility of even more Super Bowl rings to add to his accomplishments, but now that he is retired, where does that leave the card market? 

We’re going to dive into recent sales data for 10 different Brady rookie cards to see how the card market reacted to his retirement. 

1. Tom Brady 2000 Contenders Rookie Championship Ticket Auto /100 BGS 8.5 

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eBay

On February 1st, a BGS 8.5 copy (pop 28) of Brady’s rookie Championship Ticket Auto sold for $2.3 million via PWCC Auctions on eBay. 

The previous high sale for this card was $1.72 million in April 2021 and it last sold in October for $1.54 million. 

It’s not surprising to see the immediate lift in this card’s value as just about every media outlet has been discussing his retirement. 

A second sale of this card netted $2.04 million on February 19th and is still higher than the previous all-time record despite a slight dip. 

2. Tom Brady 2000 Bowman Chrome Base #236 PSA 10

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Cardladder

There are 1,108 copies of Tom Brady’s Bowman Chrome PSA 10 rookie card that features him in a Patriots uniform and is one of his flagship rookies that commands 5-figures on the secondary market. 

The card hit a high of $28,000 in February of 2021 before dropping to a low of $13,200 in July. 

The card last sold on 2/22 for $15,460:

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CardLadder

Higher supply cards are always more vulnerable to price fluctuations and this one is no exception. In the past 3 months, the card has lost 18.24% of its value, or $3,447.

3. Tom Brady 2000 Bowman Chrome Refractor #236 PSA 9

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CardLadder

There are just 57 copies of the Tom Brady Bowman Chrome Rookie Refractor in a PSA 9 grade and a copy last sold for $168,000 on 2/19:

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CardLadder

In the past 3 months, the card has lost 12.5% of its value ($24,000) and is down from its all-time high price of $192,000 in December 2021. The tail-end of 2021 and the beginning of 2022 brought a wave of record card sales across multiple sports and have since retracted significantly in value, but Brady’s cards have not had as steep of a drop. 

This card in a PSA 9 sold under $1,000 up until early 2015, so when zooming out, Brady’s market has exponentially grown and stayed pretty consistent in value. 

4. Tom Brady 2000 Skybox Impact #27 PSA 10

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CardLadder

An alternative rookie card that features Brady in his college uniform has taken a 32.5% price hit ($780) in the past 3 months and sold for a record low in that same time period at $1,620 on 2/20: 

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CardLadder

This card hit a high price of $3,575 in February of 2021 and has since lost value. For perspective, this card sold for under $100 in 2015 and is up 2,845% since its first recorded sales in 2007. 

5. Tom Brady 2000 Playoff Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph /100 #144 BGS 8

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CardLadder

There are 28 copies of Brady’s 2000 Contenders Championship Ticket Autograph and a copy in a BGS 8 grade last sold for a record $1.41 million on 2/5:

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CardLadder

The previous record was set in March for $1.32 million before dipping to $1.02 million and accelerating in value just a few days after Brady announced his retirement. There are only 100 copies of this Championship Ticket Autograph making it Brady’s most desirable rookie card. 

6. Tom Brady 2000 SP Authentic /1250 #118 PSA 10

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CardLadder

This 2000 Tom Brady SP Authentic rookie has just 98 copies graded a PSA 10 and last sold for $114,000 on 2/19: 

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CardLadder

In the past 3 months, the card has lost 20.83% of its value ($30,000) but is up from a low price of $95,610 in January. In March of 2021, the card hit a high price of $181,200 but has since lost over $67,000 of value. 

7. Tom Brady 2020 Panini Flawless Signature Gems Auto 1/1 #SGP-TBR Ungraded

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GoldinCo

Tom Brady entered the league so long ago that he didn’t benefit from the modern card market that features premium sets like National Treasures and Flawless. Because of that, later year cards from these sets garner value on the open market. 

This 1/1 2020 Flawless Brady diamond card with the “7x SB Champ” inscription is currently on auction at Goldin Co. with a bid of $85,000 ($102,000 with the buyer’s premium) and over 2 days left. 

It’s not uncommon to see Brady’s non-rookie cards from premium products sell for 5 figures, but it looks like his retirement news isn’t stopping this card from surpassing a 6-figure sale. 

8. Tom Brady 2018 Panini Kaboom! Gold /10 #TB BGS 9.5

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Cardladder

The next two cards on this list are of the popular Kaboom! insert. Only 5 copies of this Brady Kaboom! are graded PSA 10 and a copy last sold in October for $120,000: 

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CardLadder

The card sold for $13,220 on 2/4 (during a peak in the overall card market) and shot up to $120,000 in October. Although the card hasn’t sold on the news of his retirement, it’s on the list for a reason: no copies of the six-figure card have hit the market. Neither have any PSA 9 copies. 

Evaluating a player’s card market is just as much looking at sales as it is how many rare cards surface during an event in a player’s career. This is a small sample size, with only 5 graded copies out of 10 total possible cards, but no one is rushing to sell these after Brady’s retirement. 

9. Tom Brady 2021 Absolute Kaboom! Gold /10 #K19 PSA 10

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CardLadder

Unlike Brady’s 2018 Gold Kaboom!, his 2021 insert has sold after his retirement news. 

There are only 5 PSA 10 copies of Brady’s 2021 Gold Kaboom featuring him in a Buccaneers uniform with the most recent sale of a copy on 2/19 for $52,800:

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CardLadder

Only 3 copies of the card have sold all-time, but it is down 12% since January ($7,200). There are two Gold Brady Kabooms from the 2021 Absolute set, one featuring him in a Buccaneers uniform and the other in a Patriots uniform. The latter is less valuable with a last sold price of $43,200. 

10. Tom Bardy 2000 Metal Base #267 PSA 10

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CardLadder

There are 186 copies of this Brady alternative rookie card in a PSA 10 grade and a copy last sold for $8,399 on 2/13: 

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CardLadder

This is not one of Brady’s most recognizable rookie cards but it hit an all-time high of $10,000 just 1 day after he announced retirement and is up 8.3% ($649) since 1/25.

Conclusion

According to the Cardladder Player Index, which measures the price changes of a basket of cards per player in a given time frame, Brady’s cards are up 14.47% over the past month. 

This indicates that the market reacted positively to his retirement news, but as we’ve seen in this list, it depends on the card, grade, rarity, etc. 

Whether Brady unretires or not, his name will never leave the discussion. 

Quarterbacks, no matter how great they are, will always be compared to Brady and those conversations will heat up if anyone comes close to playing in 10 Super Bowls, let alone winning 7 of them. 

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