One family of four paid $13.50 apiece for tickets to Michael Jordan’s NBA debut Oct. 26, 1984.
More than 40 years later, two of those tickets are hitting the auction block, fresh to the hobby and estimated to fetch more than $100,000 collectively later this summer.
Though Jordan would not exactly light up the stat sheet, shooting 5-for-16 from the field with 16 points and seven assists, it marked a seminal moment in basketball history and the beginning of the most storied and transcendent career in the sport.
Submitted to PSA earlier this year ahead of their sale at Heritage Auctions, the ticket stubs — all four in the more desirable “season ticket” variety — received grades of 8, 8, 6 and 4.
The population of stubs of that variant was increased from seven to 11, with the three highest in the population report all belonging to this submission. Across all variants, PSA has graded a total of 54 tickets (including a single full ticket).
In 2022, the value of Jordan debut tickets made international headlines when the only full, unused example in the PSA population — found by its consignor after forgetting about its existence for decades — sold for $468,000.
Since then, the value of Jordan debut tickets has fallen precipitously, with other variants, including the box office and Ticketron versions, selling with some regularity. A PSA 2 box office stub, the sole example at the grade with eight examples higher, sold for $16,800 in December.
Heritage is selling two of the four stubs retained by the family all those years ago in its August auction, one graded PSA 8 and one graded PSA 6. The auction house has assigned an estimate of $100,000-plus and $50,000-plus to the two ticket stubs, respectively.
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible content.