Fact Check

Is Tom Brady's Yacht Bigger Than the Titanic?

Seven-time Super Bowl champion Tom Brady does own a yacht, but this claim from an online ad left us scratching our heads.

Published June 7, 2022

TAMPA, FLORIDA - FEBRUARY 07: Tom Brady #12 of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers hoists the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LV at Raymond James Stadium on February 07, 2021 in Tampa, Florida. The Buccaneers defeated the Chiefs 31-9. (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images) (Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)
Image Via Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images
Claim:
NFL quarterback Tom Brady owns a yacht that is bigger than the Titanic.

Fact Check

In early June 2022, an online advertisement claimed, "Tom Brady's New Yacht Is Bigger Than the Titanic." However, this was little more than misleading clickbait.

An online advertisement said that Tom Brady's New Yacht Is Bigger Than the Titanic.

This ad was both misleading and false.

At the time that we reviewed this ad, Brady, a seven-time Super Bowl champion, was the quarterback for the Tampa Bay Buccaneers in the National Football League (NFL).

We clicked the ad about Brady owning a yacht bigger than the Titanic. It led to a 43-page slideshow article on YourDIY.com. Brady appeared on page 35. However, the page said nothing of Brady owning a yacht bigger than the Titanic. It simply said that Brady owned a Wajer 55 S yacht, which he named Viva a Viva. It measured 55 feet (17 meters) long.

Brady later upgraded to a Wajer 77 model yacht that measured 77 feet (23 meters) long.

By comparison, the Titanic measured more than 882 feet (269 meters) long. The Titanic was more than eleven times larger in length than Brady's Wajer 77, and that's before getting into the obvious disparities in width and height. (The voyage of the Titanic ended in April 1912. Its sinking led to the deaths of around 1,500 people.)

Had Brady purchased a boat that truly was bigger than the Titanic, it would have been major news across the world. We're not ship experts, but one can only imagine the cost of building, delivering, and managing a yacht that's larger than the Titanic. According to a few articles that we found online that provided the estimated cost of building large cruise ships (potentially more than $1 billion), even someone as famous and successful as Brady didn't appear to have enough money to build one. Several websites that showed up in Google search results provided an unofficial and unverified estimate of Brady's net worth (supposedly around $250 to $400 million), which is far less than large cruise ship construction estimates.

This wasn't the first time that Brady was featured in a misleading online ad about owning an expensive mode of transportation. In 2021, we looked at an ad that claimed, "Tom Brady's Private Jet Was a Gift from Whom?" While it's true that Brady has traveled on private jets, there's no evidence that he ever received one as a gift. The clickbait ad led to a story that never mentioned anything of anyone buying one for Brady's family.

In sum, no, Brady did not own a yacht that was bigger than the Titanic. Our explanation below details why these kinds of ads lead to lengthy slideshow articles.

Sources

Gardocki, Jon. “Celeb Yachts: The Most Expensive Ships in Hollywood’s Fleet.” YourDIY.com, https://yourdiy.com/celeb-yachts/.

Gartland, Dan. “Tom Brady Buys $6 Million Yacht.” Sports Illustrated, 7 May 2021, https://www.si.com/extra-mustard/2021/05/07/buccaneers-tom-brady-new-yacht-wajer-77-photos.

Grant, Robert. “How Much Does a Cruise Ship Cost to Build?” Cruise Deals Expert, 19 Mar. 2020, https://cruisedeals.expert/how-much-does-a-cruise-ship-cost-to-build/.

“How Big Was the Titanic?” Titanic Facts, 4 June 2018, https://titanicfacts.net/how-big-was-the-titanic/.

“How Much Does It Cost to Build a Cruise Ship?” Cruise.blog, 30 Sept. 2021, https://cruise.blog/2021/09/how-much-does-it-cost-build-cruise-ship.

Introducing Tom Brady’s Wajer 77. Tom Brady Daily Fans, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bvqxoTrk8_w.

Liles, Jordan. “Did Tom Brady Receive a Private Jet as a Gift?” Snopes.com, 8 Feb. 2021, https://www.snopes.com/fact-check/tom-brady-private-jet/.

Ma, Haiyan. “How Much Does It Cost to Build a Cruise Ship?” Cruise Hive, 27 Apr. 2022, https://www.cruisehive.com/how-much-does-it-cost-to-build-a-cruise-ship/70619.

“Tom Brady Net Worth - Google Search.” Google, https://www.google.com/search?q=tom+brady+net+worth.

Tom Brady’s Blinged-out Yacht “Viva a Vida.” FOX 13 Tampa Bay, 2021, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJzPnNDAnC4.

“Wajer 55 S.” Wajer Yachts, https://www.wajer.com/models/wajer-55-s.

“Wajer 77.” Wajer Yachts, https://www.wajer.com/models/wajer-77.

Jordan Liles is a Senior Reporter who has been with Snopes since 2016.