Best-In-Class
1984 Michael Jordan NBA Debut Chicago Bulls Ticket Stub (Season Ticket Format), PSA NM-MT 8. ...
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Description
1984 Michael Jordan NBA Debut Chicago Bulls Ticket Stub (Season Ticket Format), PSA NM-MT 8
Best-In-Class Expert Analysis/Summary:
Within ticket collecting, and like many other hobby categories, historically significant debuts are highly coveted. Debut tickets are viewed as the rookie cards of this growing segment, and they often offer a level of scarcity that far exceeds what is considered elusive in the trading card world. One could argue that there is no debut ticket from the second half of the 20th century more impactful or noteworthy than that of Michael Jordan. On October 26, 1984, the man that most now consider the GOAT of the sport played in his first regular season game, and the rest, as they say, is history.
Despite his potential and success at the collegiate level, very few people had the foresight to keep tickets from Jordan's first game, but that is part of what makes collecting tickets from the past so intriguing. They were not manufactured to be collected; they were made to be used by those who attended the event. In those days, saving a ticket from a game like this wasn't an obvious priority because many prospects enter the league each year only to fade into obscurity thereafter. No one knew what heights "Air" would reach, except - perhaps - Jordan himself.
In 2025, a group of four tickets that emanated from the family who attended that game came to light. Once the tickets were graded, they became the four highest graded specimens in the PSA Population Report, with PSA NM-MT 8 being the highest, achieved by two. To put that into proper context, the highest grade reached by any ticket of the highly desirable "season" variety was PSA VG 3 before this quartet was submitted. While no one can predict whether or not the top two from this small find will ever be matched again or exceeded, what we can say is that the chances are low.
Stubs, by definition, not only had to run the gauntlet of obstacles at the scene since they were used and torn at the gate, but also required stellar preservation afterward. For that reason, coupled with the fact that Jordan's NBA debut is one of the most important tickets imaginable, this condition-defying example received our Best-In-Class assessment.