LSU Quarterback Can’t Keep $100,000 Championship Football

(Bloomberg) -- LSU quarterback Joe Burrow won’t be keeping the football used in the final play of the national championship game after all.

A spokesman for the athletic department at Louisiana State University said the ball, which one memorabilia expert said would command at least $100,000 at auction, belongs to the university and that it probably will be housed in the trophy case at the football operations facility.

Burrow took the final snap in Louisiana State’s 42-25 win over Clemson two nights ago and left the field with the football tucked under his left arm.

The victory gave LSU its first national title since 2007 and fourth overall.

Burrow, a senior who won the Heisman Trophy last month, threw five touchdown passes and ran for another, breaking several championship-game records. He ended his collegiate career being named as the game’s most valuable player on offense.

Ken Goldin, founder of Goldin Auctions in New Jersey who appraised the football, said athletes are increasingly trying to hold on to big-game keepsakes.

Burrow hasn’t said whether he wanted to keep the football.

To contact the reporter on this story: Scott Soshnick in New York at ssoshnick@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Nick Turner at nturner7@bloomberg.net, Kevin Miller

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