Super Bowl Bling

Odds are good that yesterday evening saw you plopped down on the couch, watching the Super Bowl. Now, whether you were watching it for the commercials, Madonna, or heck, maybe the actual game, the one thing on my mind was, “I wonder what the ring is going to look like”? Well that, and the fact that I loved that Doritos commercial with the dog doing away with the cat. Please don’t call PETA, I love cats, I even have one myself named Leo, but I’m rambling a bit. Back to the diamonds. 

Now it will be a few months before the new Super Bowl champions will see their blinged out rings, so I thought I’d tide everyone over with some photos of past rings as well as a little bit of history about the tradition which began in the 1967. The winners that year were the Green Bay Packers and they chose an understated piece in yellow gold with one central diamond and it owes its design in part to legend Vince Lombardi. This was arguably the last year that a Super Bowl ring could ever be termed ‘understated’ again. 

Photo courtesy of Jostens

The ring itself is awarded to the team as a stand in of sorts since there can be only one Vince Lombardi Trophy. This allows the team to have a small memento of their Super Bowl win. The rings are typically made of yellow or white gold and can include both diamonds and colored stones. The team name, logo, and Super Bowl number are also added. An interesting fact is that it’s not only the players that get the rings. Rings can go to players, coaches, trainers, personnel, and even retired players. It’s all up to the team’s discretion. However the NFL will only foot the bill for 150 rings at a budget of $5,000 apiece. Now, they may be purchased for that amount but they have a resale value that is far higher. In 2011, a Super Bowl ring belonging Steve Wright, a Packers lineman from the 60’s, hit the auction circuit and sold for over $73,000. 

Now, what’s even more amazing than the price and bling-factor of these rings, is the sheer number of them that some people have earned. Neal Dahlen has seven, SEVEN! That’s more rings than he can wear on one hand! However, the most rings earned by an active player are five. Psh, only five? Ok, yeah, that’s still a mind blowing amount of super bowl swag. And the honors go to Charles Haley for his years with San Francisco and Dallas. He is the only player to have this distinction although there are at least 32 players right behind him with four rings apiece. 

Photo courtesy of Jostens

Some more fun tidbits.

• William “The Refrigerator” Perry has the largest size ever recorded for a Super Bowl ring at size 25. For those of you who are wondering, the average female ring size is a 6, and a size 25 is about the size of a half dollar coin. 
• The ring with the most diamonds, pictured above, belongs to the Patriots who won Super Bowl XXXIX. The ring has 124 diamonds and weighs 4.06 oz.
• The company chosen to make the Super Bowl ring can never make a replica unless asked to by the team. And even then, the design must have slight alterations.