Former New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady will leave his seven Super Bowl rings behind in Las Vegas — but there’s a good reason.
Brady, 46, spoke at the first Hall of Excellence Preview Ceremony on Friday, February 9, attended by Us Weekly, at the Urs Fischer Gallery at the Fontainebleau Las Vegas.
“It’s obviously an honor for me to be standing here at the Fontainebleau here at the Hall of Excellence Preview Ceremony this morning [before] Super Bowl weekend. I’ve never really been to one of these outside of playing, so this is all a bit new for me as well,” Brady said in his speech.
The retired athlete described the Hall of Excellence as “one of the first true representations of what I want to do with my career beyond football.” He expressed hope that it will “bring people together around a shared goal that’s bigger than all of us.”
The first of its kind, the Hall of Excellence is a museum of curated, one-of-a-kind sports memorabilia, that will open later in 2024. Among those memorabilia will be Brady’s seven Super Bowl championship rings, which he earned over his decades-long football career.
“I’m leaving my seven Super Bowl rings here at the Fontainebleau because artifacts like those, they don’t belong in closets, they don’t below hidden away in safes,” Brady explained. “These rings represent so much more than just accomplishments. They belong to the people. They represent my relationships with my coaches and my teammates, with my family, with my friends and with the millions of fans who were on that journey with me, and without them, that journey wouldn’t have resulted in the coolest artifacts that have ever been given to me.”
Most of Brady’s rings were won when he played as quarterback for the Patriots in 2002, 2004, 2005, 2015, 2017 and 2019. His seventh and final ring was earned in 2021 as quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers before he officially retired from the NFL in 2023.
The championship rings will be displayed at the Fontainebleau throughout Super Bowl week and will move to the Hall of Excellence once the museum opens. Super Bowl LVIII takes place on Sunday, February 11, and will see the Kansas City Chiefs defend their championship title against the San Francisco 49ers.
Among the rare artifacts featured in the museum are memorabilia from Jim and Frann Gray, Brady and The Tom Brady Family Collection, Muhammad Ali, Vince Lombardi, Jim Brown, Babe Ruth and Hank Aaron.
“We have the Smithsonian of artifacts,” Brady said in his speech. “The exhibits are much more than just championships, they’re much more than just jewelry from a field of play. They’re about the stories of people who helped other people win. Their stories are about everyone who put their team goals ahead of the individual. They’re stories about the true American dream and the ability to achieve success and with purpose.”
Reporting by Hannah Kahn
