Rick Scuteri-USA TODAY Sports
Hockey fans will now have the opportunity to own a piece of history.
The keyword here is “piece”.
At the moment, Team USA captain Mike Eruzione’s game-worn jersey from the 1980 Winter Olympics, also known as the ‘Miracle on Ice’ game, is up for auction by sports memorabilia auction company Lelands, with bidding on the item set to run through Jan. 29.
There is a catch, however. As per the details of the listing, prospective buyers cannot actually purchase Eurzione’s full jersey as part of the auction, which requires a minimum bid of $75,000. Rather, Lelands is offering a 20 percent ownership share in the sweater to bidders, therein making it possible to own just one-fifth of this one-of-a-kind piece of hockey history.
Something like this, quite literally, has never happened before.
According to Lelands, Eurzione’s iconic jersey is the first item to ever be offered fractionally via a live internet auction, with the company expecting to offer additional portions of its ownership in the future.
“Offered here is a 20% ownership share in the United States Olympic hockey jersey worn by team captain Mike Eruzione during the gold medal game against Finland on February 24th at Lake Placid,” reads the official listing on the item’s auction page.
“This jersey originates directly from Eruzione and is accompanied by a signed LOA on the stationery of the auction house that first sold it in 2013. Eruzione has further attested to its game-used status by inscribing the jersey in black Sharpie (10/10), “Mike Eruzione – 1980 Captain – My Gold Medal Jersey” on the reverse numeral “2.”
Depending on how successful this endeavor ultimately is, it could usher in the first of many items to be auctioned off fractionally moving forward.
It truly is a wild world that we live in.