Ted Lasso Card Once Doled Out for Free Is Now Worth $16K

A decade-old bar promo tied to an NBC sports ad campaign just turned into a five-figure payout. A 2014 Topps card featuring Jason Sudeikis as the character Ted Lasso recently sold for $16,470 at Goldin Auctions in the elite PSA 10 grade, far eclipsing its prior high of $2,806 for a lower-graded copy and marking a surge of nearly 500% in value, per SI.com. The card originated in NBC Sports' push to market its then-new Premier League coverage, with "bar kits" that included swag and cards showing network commentators—as well as one "rookie" card of Sudeikis as the clueless American coach.

The Athletic, which notes that that rookie card has since achieved "near mythical status," adds that a video starring Sudeikis as Ted Lasso also accompanied the promotion. Issued six years before Ted Lasso became an Apple TV+ hit, many of the cards have since likely been lost or discarded, adding to their scarcity, per SI.com. With the show now an Emmy winner heading into a planned fourth season and interest in offbeat pop-culture collectibles rising, that once-ignored promo is now being hunted by fans and hobbyists combing through old bar kits and card boxes. "A card is worth what someone is willing to pay for it," collectibles expert Susan Lulgjuraj tells the Athletic.