Connecticut Man's Unpunched Ticket To Michael Jordan's First NBA Game Is Expected To Fetch Quite The Pretty Penny At Auction
CHICAGO (CBS) -- Michael Jordan memorabilia has been in high demand since "The Last Dance" took us back in time to the Bulls' glory days.
As CBS 2's Marshall Harris reported Friday afternoon, one such piece of memorabilia could bring a Northwestern University grad more than a pretty penny. That item is, of all things, an unpunched Bulls game ticket.
The ticket is to Michael Jordan's first ever NBA game – when the Bulls took on the Washington Bullets on Oct. 26, 1984. And the man, Mike Cole of Connecticut, will soon find out how much it's worth nearly 40 years later.
Cole has been going to sporting events all his life, with the tickets becoming keepsakes over time. So when he stumbled across an article online about a Bulls ticket from the 1984-1985 season opener being auctioned off for $264,000, he realized he had been at that game.
"And I read it and I thought, first of all, that's an insane amount, and second of all, I have a full ticket to that game," Cole said, "and I realized, I think I've got something really valuable on my hands right now."
Cole's dad had secured tickets to the game when Cole himself was a freshman at Northwestern.
"I knew Michael Jordan had been drafted by the Bulls. I knew there was excitement there," Cole said. "I was going as a Bullets fan to see my hometown team - which I loved."
Cole couldn't get anyone else to make the trip to the old Chicago Stadium from Evanston – leaving him with a rare unused ticket to Michael Jordan's NBA debut.
He started making calls to find out what it might be worth.
"I texted a copy of the picture, and literally before putting the phone down, it was ringing to area codes that I wasn't even familiar with," Cole said. "And they said, 'This is unbelievable.'"
The ticket is now up for bid online through Heritage Auctions.
"This is the definition of unique, because it's one of one that we're aware of that's ever surfaced for this game," said Chris Ivy, director of sports for Heritage Auctions.
Bids are already up to $200,000, and they are expected to jump just before final bidding Feb. 26.
"Ninety percent of the bids in the auction do come in in the last 48 hours," Ivy said.
Harris asked Cole if there is a number in his head that he hopes the ticket will fetch.
"I do have a number. I don't want to jinx myself. I don't think it's appropriate to share because the feeling is also - I don't like to put a cap on it," he said. "If someone said they thought it was worth $5 million, I don't want somebody to think, 'Well, this guy would be happy with $300,000.'"
Cole added: "I would love to see a Chicagoan purchase it. If a Chicagoan is the highest offer, I will be happy, but I'm not willing to sacrifice to give a less price to a Chicagoan. That would be my philosophy."
Cole says he does have one thing planned, since he knows he is getting a quarter of a million dollars. He and his wife will be going on a bike tour of Italy this summer.
