First it was Deflategate — now we have Jerseygate.
The football jersey Tom Brady wore while leading his New England Patriots to a historic Super Bowl win was still missing on Monday — and perhaps stolen right out of his locker, the quarterback said.
Brady told reporters he last saw his game-used threads in the New England dressing room Sunday night in Houston, following the Patriots’ stunning 34-28 overtime win.
“The jersey, I put it in my bag and I came out and it wasn’t there anymore,” Brady told reporters on Monday at a press conference for the Super Bowl LI MVP.
“It’s unfortunate because that’s a nice piece of memorabilia. If it ends up on eBay, let me know.”
At least one sports collectibles seller valued the jersey at upwards of $500,000.
Ken Goldin, of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey, told Bloomberg News, “He is the most popular and most collectible football player ever,” noting the bidding would start at $300,000 and could easily hit half-a-million.
“He likely comes right after Michael Jordan in terms of athletes who have played in the past 40 years,” Goldin told Bloomberg.
Brady said he’d like to recover the missing jersey — but will be perfectly happy if the only souvenir from Sunday night turns out to be his fifth Super Bowl ring
“Those are pretty special ones to keep. What can you do?” Brady said. “I’ll take the ring and that’s good enough for me.”
USA Today first reported on Sunday night that Brady’s game jersey had gone missing.
“It was right here. I know exactly where I put it,” Brady said Sunday, moments after seeing the jersey was gone. “This is not good … It was right here and now I don’t have it. Not good.”
The story of Brady’s AWOL threads became even more confusing when other media outlets reported the shirt probably was not missing – and likely had been taken by Patriots employees for safekeeping.
Multiple outlets cited Boston Fox affiliate WFXT, which by Monday morning had walked back from its original story, chalking up the botched report to a miscommunication with Patriots employees.
“I certainly apologize for relaying any incorrect or misleading information and hope whoever took Brady’s jersey does the right thing and returns it,” WFXT sports director Tom Leyden wrote on his station’s site.
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