Retirement is one of the most personal decisions a person can make.
Decades of routine and purpose are often left behind once a person decides, or is forced, to leave the workforce.
Professional athletes often live in what seems like a parallel universe to us mere mortals and the rules of that universe are often different.
Retirement isn’t a strictly personal decision to a star athlete.
In addition to financial and familial considerations, professional athletes, especially the ones at the top of the pyramid, understand that their careers will be discussed until the end of time.
All of these factors must have been weighing on future NFL Hall of Famer Tom Brady when he decided to retire in February before calling and audible in mid-March, announcing his intent to return for a 23rd season.
The fallout from that decision will affect many people in the league, but it may negatively affect at least one person off the field more than anyone else.
Brady Calls an Audible
When Brady threw a 55 yard touchdown pass to Mike Evans in the fourth quarter of the divisional round playoff game against the eventual Super Bowl champion Los Angeles Rams, there was speculation that the world was witnessing the last game of his storied career.
Evans celebrated the touchdown by chucking the ball into the stands. If you know anything about sports memorabilia, you know that the fan that caught the ball was just gifted an item that was worth hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Last week, auctioneer Lelands sold the ball for $518,628, including taxes and fees, after receiving 23 bids. A day later, Brady announced that he was un-retiring.
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The winning bid of $432,190 was made on a Saturday night. By Sunday evening Brady was back.
The DailyMail reported that the football would be worth only about $20,000 following Brady’s decision, based on an appraiser’s estimate, or about 4% of the sale price.
Tough break for the poor anonymous sports collector, but Brady has a plan to turn one person’s tragedy into help for others.
Not only is FTX donating a bitcoin to a charity, it will also gift the buyer of the football another bitcoin, which on Monday was worth about $41,000 at last check.
Brady’s Second Act Crypto Career
Brady is in a position to make this request of FTX because of his heavy investment in the crypto exchange.
Brady and wife Gisele Bündchen took an equity stake in FTX Trading last June to serve as brand ambassadors for the exchange.
The company has already become one of the world’s largest crypto exchanges after debuting just two years ago.
In late January, FTX, led by billionaire Bankman-Fried, raised another $400 million in its third funding round, boosting its valuation to $32 billion. Investors in the round included Singapore state holding company Temasak, cryptocurrency venture capital firm Paradigm, the Ontario Teachers’ Pension Plan Board and venture capital firm NEA.
In January he company’s U.S. sister exchange, FTX U.S., also raised $400 million from the same investors at a valuation of $8 billion.
All told, FTX has raised about $1.8 billion since July when it was valued at $18 billion.
