{"id":1016931,"date":"2026-08-22T11:28:20","date_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:28:20","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1016931\/"},"modified":"2026-08-22T11:28:20","modified_gmt":"2026-08-22T11:28:20","slug":"fernando-mendoza-rookie-card-cost-tom-brady-life-altering-money","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/1016931\/","title":{"rendered":"Fernando Mendoza rookie card cost Tom Brady ‘life-altering money’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Tom Brady\u2019s celebrity status did not get him a discount on one of his big summer purchases<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One of the NFL legend\u2019s business partners, Chris Costa, told the California Post on Friday that when Brady made a deal to acquire Fernando Mendoza\u2019s rarest rookie card<\/a> last month, it cost him a small fortune.<\/p>\n

Las Vegas Raiders minority owner Tom Brady and Max Mendoza, brother of Fernando Mendoza of the Raiders, look on during warmups before a preseason game between the Raiders and the Arizona Cardinals at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Thursday, August 13, 2026. The Cardinals defeated the Raiders 27-14. (Getty Images North America) Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a life-altering amount of money for most people,\u201d Costa said, \u201cif not all people.\u201d<\/p>\n

The exact figure was not disclosed, but Costa \u2014 the co-founder and managing partner at CardVault by Tom Brady<\/a> \u2014 said the price tag made it \u201cthe most expensive Fernando Mendoza card that\u2019s ever sold.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza was selected by the Raiders with the No. 1 overall pick. TOPPS<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a fact,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n

Brady\u2019s pursuit of the 1-of-1 item all began in the spring, when Topps revealed that members of the 2026 draft class were signing cards with \u201cMy 1st NFL Auto\u201d inscriptions on them after learning their NFL destinations.<\/p>\n

Brady, of course, had a tremendous desire for it, considering the team he partly owns, the Las Vegas Raiders, ended up selecting Mendoza with the first overall pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cTom basically raised his hand and was like, \u2018I want that card,’\u201d Costa said. \u201c\u2018I need that card.’\u201d<\/p>\n

It took several weeks for the piece\u2019s owner to come forward, but Costa said once they located the man \u2014 who he described as a resident of the Southwest United States \u2014 some tense negotiations took place.<\/p>\n

Fernando Mendoza #15 of the Las Vegas Raiders warms up prior to the game against the Houston Texans at NRG Stadium on Thursday, August 20, 2026, in Houston, Texas. (Getty Images North America) Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was several weeks, if not close to a month, of us going back and forth,\u201d Costa said.<\/p>\n

Ultimately, Brady agreed to fork over \u201ca hefty cash number\u201d as well as an autographed jersey for it, Costa said.<\/p>\n

A meetup between the two at a future CardVault By Tom Brady location is also in the works, Costa added.<\/p>\n

The deal got done just days before Fanatics Fest kicked off in mid-July, and Brady was actually able to proudly show the card off to a crowd of people while speaking at the event.<\/p>\n

\u201cI got Fernando Mendoza\u2019s \u2018My 1st NFL Auto\u2019 one-of-one,\u201d Brady said as he put it on display for the masses. \u201cI know how hard he works. He\u2019s got a great family and he\u2019s coming to a great environment for success. So I figured you\u2019ve got to invest in it, and it\u2019s going to hopefully bring some good luck to Las Vegas.\u201d<\/p>\n

As for where the card now currently resides, Costa noted it\u2019s in a safe place.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s with Tom,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Tom Brady\u2019s celebrity status did not get him a discount on one of his big summer purchases. One…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":1016932,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[39],"tags":[276,6335,2778,535,1232,62,1263,67,132,68],"class_list":["post-1016931","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-california","tag-exclusive","tag-fernando-mendoza","tag-las-vegas-raiders","tag-nfl","tag-sports","tag-tom-brady","tag-united-states","tag-unitedstates","tag-us"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/117138928785013418","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016931","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1016931"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1016931\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1016932"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1016931"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1016931"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1016931"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}