A football that was used during the New England Patriots AFC championship 45-7 romping of the Indianapolis Colts has sold for nearly $44,000 in an auction.
According to ESPN's Darren Rovell and the auction site Lelands.Com, the ball sold for $43,740. The ball was put up for auction on behalf of Patriots fan, Laura Nichols, who got the ball that night. The ball was given to her by Patriots WR Brandon LaFell following a touchdown by his teammate, Legarette Blount.
Nichols was very excited when Brandon LaFell handed her the ball. "LaFell picked up the ball, I pointed at him, he pointed at me and he handed me the ball," Nichols said. "It was all so surreal." Little did Laura Nichols know at that time how much this ball would really be worth.
Joshua Evans, Founder and chairman of Lelands.Com said, "This is a 'wow' type of collectible, this is one of the best conversation pieces that has ever been sold." While he originally saw it getting six figures, which it didn't, Laura Nichols will still be more than happy to be getting nearly $44,000 for a football. This is also said to be the only deflategate football that is currently no longer with the NFL.
Originally Nichols thought it was not a deflategate football because it was originally reported those balls were only used in the first half. It was later announced that it was false, and it was the same balls in the second half, they were just simply re-inflated.
The couple said they had mixed feelings about selling this exclusive piece of NFL history, but they said they would prefer to get money for it rather than just let it collect dust on a shelf. They sold it now as it is likely to be worth more since the deflategate is a hot debate, with the ruling of Tom Brady's appeal of his suspension just around the corner.
As punishment for his role in deflategate, Brady was suspended for the first four games of the new season. This is a punishment he is appealing, with the ruling of the appeal likely to be announced in the upcoming weeks.