The Super Bowl ring is awarded in the National Football league to each player on the winning team of that year’s championship game. While the Vince Lombardi Trophy only goes to the ownership, the Super Bowl ring is a way of honoring the actual players and team members. It is a momento that proves an individual was once a Super Bowl champion, and something that can never be taken away from them.
These rings are very expensive as they are made usually with yellow or white gold and diamonds. Included on the rings are the team name, team logo, and the Super Bowl number, which is represented in Roman Numerals. The NFL gives each team from $5,000 to $7,000 per ring for 150 players and staff, with any cost over that being covered by covered by the team.
That winning team gets to decide who the rings will be presented to. That list includes players that are either active or injured, coaches, trainers, personnel, executives and the coaching staff, among others. Also, there are times where a team will award a former player with a ring even when they’re not on the winning roster.
There are a lot of rings that you will see that have diamonds in the shape of the Vince Lombardi Trophy, as well as football-shaped diamonds. There can also be diamonds or gold in the shape of the team logo. If a franchise has more than one Super Bowl victory, sometimes diamonds or gold will illustrate how many titles that franchise has won over time. Almost every player ring features the player’s name and jersey number as well.
The actual cost of each Super Bowl ring is something of a mystery. It also is not clear exactly which number would be the most. Is it the cost to manufacturer? What the team is charged per ring? The cost of the raw materials? The cost a ring can or has fetched at auction? The cost at the time it was made or in today’s dollars? There are stories of rings being auctioned off for as little as $30 and as much as $250,000, so it is hard to pin down what they are truly worth.
There are many different ways to look at it, and since there aren’t many official reports for any of these numbers, it’s best to assume the cost varies pretty greatly year to year. Looking at the reports we do have, you can safely say that modern rings are going to cost a team somewhere in the range of $30,000 to $40,000 each ($5-$6 million per team) with that cost likely to continue to rise.