Esports Athlete’s chair auctioned at $5.9K for charity: Messi, Rooney’s merch together raises $7K

The gaming chair used by professional Dota 2 player JerAx was auctioned off at a website, raising more money than the signed jerseys of soccer stars Lionel Messi and Wayne Rooney.

Jesse “JerAx” Vainikka is a Finnish Dota 2 player who was a part of the TI winning squad of OG. The two time TI winner has recently decided to auction off his gaming chair for charity and the amount it managed to raise has surpassed expectations.

The gaming chair which JerAx had donated to be auctioned off in collaboration with Valavuori Live – A Finnish talk show on Twitch – raised a sum of a whopping $5800. The entirety of the money raised through the auction was donated to charity.

Such a big amount of money raised through an auction of a gaming chair is surely surprising. But what was even more surprising was the fact that Wayne Rooney and Lionel Messi – two renowned stars in the football world (soccer, for you Americans) – also had their signed jerseys auctioned, but at prices which are both individually lower than the price of JerAx’s gaming chair. The final bid for Rooney’s signed jersey was about 4900 dollars while Messi’s signed jersey went for just above $2500.

JerAx played as a position 4 support in his TI winning team consisting of Topson, Ceb, Ana, Notail and himself. He had pulled his team out of several intense and crucial situations in the TI8 finals and maintained consistent performance throughout the time he spent with OG. The impressive display of his skills in the Internationals combined with the fame he earned in his professional Dota 2 career certainly fueled the giant price tag on his gaming chair.

It can be argued that a gaming chair in itself is more pricey than a football jersey, but the price difference is still astonishing to say the least. But then again, add that with the comfortability a gaming chair brings you compared to a jersey and the price might just seem reasonable.