Do players pay for their rings?

At the end of the NFL season when the last two teams are standing and fighting it out in the Super Bowl, the winning team will hoist the Lombardi Trophy. The trophy is then handed over to the franchise and is kept somewhere within the confines of the team facilities. But what about all the individuals involved in the process of winning the championship? Let us find out how the players, coaches, and other personnel get their rings and whether they have to pay for them.

Who pays for the Super Bowl rings

Once glance at a Super Bowl ring is enough to understand just how expensive that piece of jewelry could be. These rings come with a very heavy price tag and range between $30,000 to $50,000 apiece. That is quite a lot of money. Although the top-level players can easily make this purchase, many of the fringe players won’t be able to afford to buy the rings for themselves.

That brings us to the point of who pays for the rings. Well, the rings are paid for in part by the NFL with the balance amount paid by the respective franchises. The NFL provides each franchise a fixed amount anywhere between $5,000 to $7,000 per ring and for a total of 150 rings. The rings cost way more than that, which means that the team owners have to shelve out the remaining amount from their pockets.

Does everyone in the team get Super Bowl rings

As far as who gets a Super Bowl ring and who doesn’t get one is concerned, it depends completely upon the franchise and who they want to give the rings to. Having said that, most franchises will hand out rings to all players on the roster, the practice squad players, the coaches and executives, as well as the various staff but there is no specific limit to who else can or cannot get rings. Certain franchises have been known to hand out rings even to their cheerleading squad.

Some examples of team owners giving Super Bowl rings to those not on the team include the Denver Broncos when they won Super Bowl 50. The franchise gave rings to the cheerleaders, the trainers and the team’s beat reporter. On the other hand, the New Orleans Saints decided to give a ring to special teams player Steve Gleason even though he was not part of the team any more. In an unfortunate incident, Gleason had to retire after he was diagnosed with Lou Gehrig’s disease. Interestingly enough, the famous actress Teri Hatcher was a cheerleader for the San Francisco 49ers before her acting career took off and when the team won another Super Bowl, they gave one out to her also as their relationship was still strongly intact.

Does everyone receive the same ring?

Not everyone associated with the team and who has got a ring receives the same one. For starters, most of the top players and coaches as well as executives receive a ring with their customized names engraved on it.

In addition to this, several members who are non-players or members of the front office receive rings that are of lesser value than the ones given out to the others. Most commonly they are called the "B" and "C" level rings. These rings are typically smaller with fewer diamonds and sometimes also contain imitation diamonds in place of authentic ones. Various changes are often made to these rings to bring down the overall cost.

In conclusion, it is safe to note that the majority of the expenses for Super Bowl rings are borne by the team owners while the NFL provides a certain amount of money from its side. The number of people who can get a ring solely depends upon the respective franchises and not all individuals receive the same ring as owners will implement certain modifications to reduce the financial burden.