The Masters bills itself as "a tradition unlike any other." The Super Bowl is an American sports holiday, but the World Cup final is the most-watched event on the planet. The World Series and Wimbledon go back more than a century, and the Stanley Cup ranks as the coolest trophy in sports.
Every championship event has its unique qualities and storied history, but which ranks as the most collectible sporting event in the world?
At cllct, we set out to answer this unanswerable (and heavily debated) question.
We ranked each event in four categories on a 10-point scale, with the overall ranking determined by the sum of total points. Events are not being ranked against one another within each category, so there can be multiple events receiving the same score for each.
Historical Significance: This category is not an evaluation of the historical significance of each event to sports generally, rather, it’s looking through the collector’s lens at the significance of collectibles from the history of the event.
Merchandise: How much has merch from the event transcended the ho-hum baseline of a T-shirt with a logo? How much do attendees care about the event’s merch? Do collectors seek out merch from year’s past?
Price: How expensive are the most significant pieces of memorabilia from the event? We’re talking the best of the best.
Variety: How many options does the event provide collectors?
OK, load up your Mean Tweets, because it's time to get to our rankings:
1. The Masters
Historical Significance: 9
Considering Augusta National has trademarked Jim Nantz’s “A tradition unlike any other” catchphrase, it’s a tall task for the tournament to live up to the hype on this front, but golf collectors are really among the most obsessive and, we mean this in a nice way ... nerdy, out there. And it shows.
The very construction and origins of the course itself are a category onto itself, with photos, old stock certificates and assorted documents from more than 90 years ago attracting consistent attention from collectors.
Merch: 9
This is the easiest category to grade in this entire list. Everything that needs to be said on this front has already been said, so I will just add: Someone spent $11,500 on a set of Masters gnomes from 2018-25 on eBay on Thursday morning.
However, it does have to lose a point as there is little to be had to commemorate winners.
Price: 8
The Masters undoubtedly punches above its weight class in the high-end category, with Green Jackets worth mid-six figures and up, as well as a claim to the most expensive ticket ever sold — a pass to the inaugural 1934 Masters, which fetched more than $600,000 in a private sale.
Variety: 8
A scroll through the top golf auction house, Golden Age, will give you some idea here: The Masters generates an immensely diverse array of collectibles, from trophies to Type 1 photographs to flags.
TOTAL SCORE: 34
2. World Series
Historical Significance: 10
If this was a grade for the sport itself, baseball would receive an 11/10 for this category. But so much of the best and most beloved collectibles from the history of the National Pastime are not specific to the World Series — rather, various moments, achievements and milestones from the rest of the season.
Still, baseball fans, much like golf fans, are historians, and it is true for baseball collectors as well.
Whether it's Don Larsen in 1956 or the Chicago Cubs in 2016, there is no shortage of demand or appreciation here.
Merch: 5
This is not a highlight for the World Series. Typical of baseball’s purist leanings, there is little in the way of flashy or eye-popping merch beyond the obvious.
Price: 10
The World Series has generated some of the top sales in the hobby, including Babe Ruth’s “Called Shot” jersey, which became the most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold at more than $24 million
Mickey Mantle’s 1952 World Series jersey fetched $3 million, and Freddie Freeman’s walk-off grand-slam ball from this past World Series sold for $1.56 million.
Variety: 7
Baseball generates a ton of different pieces of memorabilia generally, perhaps due to the league’s robust authentication program, but the World Series itself doesn’t expand upon that greatly, despite making many of those pieces more desirable.
Still, the availability of comparatively random items like rosin bags and even bases boosts its grade a bit.
TOTAL: 32
3. World Cup
Historical Significance: 10
It’s the biggest event for the world’s biggest sport. Enough said.
Merch: 3
The onsite merchandise presence at the World Cup is extremely lacking, compared with other championship events. We will award points for the Vuvuzela?
Price: 10
Diego Maradona’s “Hand of God” jersey from the 1986 World Cup sold for $9.28 million, the third-most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history.
Additionally, a set of six Lionel Messi jerseys from the 2022 FIFA World Cup sold for $7.2 million.
Variety: 8
This in the only event on the list to directly influence significant sports cards: The most expensive soccer card ever sold, a PSA 9 copy of Pele’s 1958 Alifabolaget rookie card, would not exist if it weren’t for the fact Pele’s breakout performance came at the 1958 World Cup in Sweden, where the card was manufactured.
Additionally, Panini’s World Cup stickers are a phenomenon onto themselves.
TOTAL SCORE: 31
4. Super Bowl
Historical Significance: 8
Dating back to Super Bowl I in 1967, collectors remain attached to every decade of the game’s history, chasing after early mementos such as tickets, game-used equipment and team-signed items with fervor.
Merch: 8
The merchandise tent at the Super Bowl could warrant its own zip code, with items ranging from the highest of high ends to everyday workout wear.
The NFL Shop website nearly crashes every year, with fans flooding to buy championship gear — just like Eagles fans did in record-setting numbers in February.
However, if we are being honest, there is nothing truly special about most Super Bowl merch — it mainly comes down to the quality and aesthetics of that year’s Super Bowl logo appearing on the usual slew of shirts, hats and hoodies.
That being said, we have had some awesome logos over the years, like in 1999 in Miami and 1997 in New Orleans, which can hold their own among the best in sports history.
Price: 9
With Super Bowl rings consistently attracting six-figure sums, significant jerseys — such as Joe Montana’s 1985 and 1989 (he wore it for both games) Super Bowl wins selling for $1.21 million and a full run of tickets to every Super Bowl from 1967-2018 selling for $168,000 — the biggest game in American sports reflects its importance in its price tag.
Variety: 4
Super Bowl memorabilia is generally the standard items one would expect from any sporting event of its magnitude. Nothing special on that end.
TOTAL: 29
5. Olympics
Historical Significance: 8
It goes without saying the Olympics, which are as much a cultural fixture as a sports event, represent the epitome of sporting history.
Merch: 5
Given more than 11 million visitors attended the Summer Games in Paris this past year (many of whom traveling thousands of miles), the cool factor in owning something as simple as a T-shirt with a logo or a pin is super-charged.
Price: 8
The original Olympic Manifesto is the fourth-most expensive piece of sports memorabilia in history, selling for $8.8 million. Jesse Owens’ medal from the 1936 games sold for nearly $1.5 million.
Variety: 7
The diversity of sports, as well as the availability of unique-to-the-Olympics items such as torches from each Games and medals, buoy the category.
TOTAL SCORE: 28
6. NBA Finals
Historical Significance: 6
Interestingly, much of the most collectible NBA Finals were played in the 1990s and later, which comes through both in prices and, anecdotally, volume.
Now, the 1990s are history, albeit recent history, but the NBA Finals dates back a good 50 years prior, and you rarely hear much about someone hunting for a piece relating to the Chicago Stags in 1946.
Merch: 7
Much like the Super Bowl, it’s largely contingent upon the logo. But, it gains major credit for the Finals patch on jerseys, which are awesome.
Price: 8
This was one of the most difficult categories to grade as it forces one to differentiate between the collectibility of Michael Jordan and the NBA Finals, despite the inextricable link between them both.
The second-most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold is Jordan’s “Last Dance” jersey from Game 1 of the 1998 Finals, which sold for $10.1 million. But that is more about Jordan than the Finals — after all, it was literally marketed off Jordan’s docuseries, "The Last Dance." So it can’t get all the credit for that.
Variety: 5
There is not much out of the ordinary here, with the exception of the aforementioned NBA Finals patches on jerseys.
TOTAL SCORE: 26
6. Stanley Cup final
Historical Significance: 8
With a legacy that dates back to 1893 — George Lowe’s Montreal AAA ring from the first Stanley Cup sold for more than $65,000 in 2009 — as well as a brand that carries tremendous prestige, collectors are always looking for items relating to the Cup.
Merch: 4
Not too much to write home about here.
Price: 8
Stanley Cup game-used memorabilia, particularly jerseys and sticks, are among the top-sellers in any sport. A Wayne Gretzky Stanley Cup-clinching game jersey sold for more than $1.4 million.
Variety: 4
Pretty much the basics …
TOTAL SCORE: 24
8. Wimbledon
Historical Significance: 4
With plenty of parallels to the Masters, the history of Wimbledon in general is awe-inspiring, but tennis collectors simply do not show out in the same way as golf collectors.
Merch: 8
Do Strawberries and Cream count? No? Well, regardless, tennis has the best fashion in sports, and even the simplistic Wimbledon logo on a white hat is nothing short of iconic. Pure class.
Price: 6
Big sales are few and far between, with the top items, like rackets and match-used apparel from Rafael Nadal or Roger Federer, crossing the six-figure mark only a few times.
Variety: 5
The best items from Wimbledon, such as its beautiful tickets or sweet merch, are awesome due to their prestige, not large number of options.
TOTAL SCORE: 23
9. Heavyweight title bouts
Note: Unlike other sports, boxing obviously does not have an annual event to discuss, so for the purposes of these rankings, we are using heavyweight title fights as a single collectible event.
Historical Significance: 8
The lore of boxing weighs heavily on its collectibles, as the stories of the biggest names such as Muhammad Ali and Mike Tyson are told through objects such as boxing gloves, robes and tickets.
Merch: 2
Look, it’s cool to see some vintage T-shirts featuring the names of big fights, but there is really no discussion to be had here.
Price: 8
Note to self: Do not use the phrase “punches above its weight” on the golf category when boxing is still on the table.
Ali’s “Rumble in the Jungle” heavyweight championship belt is the seventh-most expensive piece of sports memorabilia ever sold at $6.18 million, and other Ali pieces have routinely fetched well into the six figures.
Though, much like with Jordan and the NBA Finals, there is a bit of a chicken or the egg issue with Ali and the fights themselves, I am not taking away any credit here as Ali’s name is on the billing.
Variety: 4
Tickets, belts, robes, gloves, trunks, posters and not much else. Keeping in mind most of that will cost you at least as much as a car, with the exception of tickets, there is not a ton for the masses to work with on this.
TOTAL SCORE: 22
10. March Madness
Historical Significance: 8
Few things spawn collectibility like an iconic moments, and few events create iconic moments like the NCAA Tournament.
Of course Magic and Bird’s face-off in 1979, and Michael Jordan’s game-winner in 1982 immediately spring to mind, but unforgettable moments from less famous names such as Lorenzo Charles’ buzzer-beater in 1983 are what really gives the tourney extra credit in the history department.
Merch: 7
The Final Four logo is among the most iconic on this list, and for those who make the trek for the games each year, grabbing a shirt or hat is a far higher priority than your average event.
Price: 4
Tickets dominate the higher-end sales, for the most part due to the lack of availability of other pieces.
Though jerseys and sneakers have sold — Christian Laettner has auctioned plenty of his memorabilia, including his jersey from “The Shot” in 1992 for nearly $120,000, that is a rarity.
The reason for this, in large part, is the limitations placed upon collegiate athletes for decades surrounding their ability to earn money from their own gear. Even with NIL, today players can only sell their memorabilia after they finish school, and still it has yet to become a regular occurrence.
Variety: 2
Due to the limitations of memorabilia hitting the market, options are far from plentiful.
TOTAL SCORE: 21
Will Stern is a reporter and editor for cllct, the premier company for collectible culture.