Super Bowl rings: NFL’s $37,000 thank you for winning the big game

There is no jewelry more coveted in the NFL than the Super Bowl ring. On Sunday, Tom Brady will either be able to deck each finger on his left hand out with hardware, or Matt Ryan will earn his first piece of championship ice.

Super Bowl rings are wearable validation of a player’s professional career. The winning team will hand out more diamonds on one summer afternoon than a Zales store does in a year to commemorate its trip to the top of the NFL mountain. In 2015, New England’s reward for beating the Seahawks in the greatest game ever played was 150 rings valued at $36,500 apiece. The NFL picks up the tab for the ornate accessories, shelling out more than $5 million each season.

The rings themselves aren’t limited to the guys who see the field on Super Bowl Sunday. With only 53 athletes on the active roster, that leaves 97 rings for practice squad members, coaches, executives, and members of the training staff. They can also go to former players who may have been released or traded during the season, and other off-field contributors.

But they’ll have to wait a while to show off their new hardware. NFL teams typically don’t pass out their Super Bowl rings until the summer, some four months after hoisting the Vince Lombardi Trophy. The Broncos distributed their rings — fitted with 194 diamonds and 18 sapphires each — in a private ceremony on June 12 last year.

Then-defensive coordinator Wade Phillips had to wait for his official one after the first one he received had the wrong name on it.

One year earlier, the Patriots waited until June 14 to unveil their diamond-encrusted rings.

The design of the ring changes every year, but a few constants remain. “World Champions” and the team’s logo typically appear on the front of the ring. The player’s (or coach’s, or executive’s) name will be on one side, while a unique phrase or symbol will balance it off on the other. And, no matter what the design, it will be lousy with diamonds.

A Super Bowl ring is a point of pride for those lucky enough to earn one, but they don’t always remain with their original owner. William “Refrigerator” Perry sold his Super Bowl XX ring back in 2000 and has watched it change hands several times since. Former New England defensive back Je’Rod Cherry raffled off one of his three championship rings in 2008, raising more than $150,000 dollars to help children in Asia and Africa.

And one of Patriots owner Robert Kraft’s Super Bowl rings now belongs, accidentally, to Vladimir Putin.

On Sunday, 150 players, coaches, and employees will earn the league’s top prize. Once June rolls around, they’ll be able to wear their instant conversation starter out to social events. Will it be Brady earning one for the thumb, or Ryan stamping his ascension to the league’s elite?