According to Sotheby’s, the championship-winning jersey of Michael Jordan from Game 1 of the 1998 NBA Finals was sold for a record-breaking $10.1 million on Friday. The classic red Chicago Bulls jersey with Michael Jordan’s number 23 on the back was sold for the highest price of any piece of game-used sports memorabilia ever.
The jersey attracted a total of 20 bids, and the final price was double Sotheby’s top estimate. The Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey was previously the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold until the Jordan merch broke it in May. The previous record for a game-used basketball jersey was held by a Kobe Bryant-autographed item from the 1996–1997 season. According to Sotheby’s, that piece of NBA memorabilia was sold for $3.7 million.
The Jordan jersey is the second of his six championship-winning outfits to be auctioned off. Additionally, it is the most expensive piece of Michael Jordan’s sports memorabilia ever sold. The previous record, set by an autographed relic card from 1997–98, was set at $2.7 million. According to Sotheby’s, most of Jordan’s NBA Finals jerseys are still in private possession, except for the one donated to the Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture.
Jordan played basketball for the Bulls and won all six of his championships with them. However, in 2001, Jordan came out of retirement to play two seasons with the Washington Wizards. In the popular ESPN/Netflix documentary “The Last Dance,” his final season with the Bulls was covered in depth.
Before being transported to New York, where fans could see it during the online auction, the jersey was made available for public viewing in Monterey, California. The French-Israeli telecom tycoon Patrick Drahi purchased the New York auction house in 2019. He had previously auctioned a pair of Jordan’s sneakers for close to $1.5 million.