We often hear about sports trophies, medals, ribbons, and plaques, but are hardly accustomed to championship rings in the world level sports. Indeed, championship rings are not global phenomena yet, but it is likely going to be soon.
North America – A BirthPlace of Championship Ring
According to Wikipedia, a championship ring is a unique practice in North American sports. Here, only one championship trophy is presented to the top winners. However, championship rings are awarded to the actual players, teams, and clubs as a collectible souvenir.
It means championship rings are symbolizing victory just like other awards do it. It is because there is no practice to award runners up medals to the winners, and championship rings are filling the void in a meaningful manner.
The reason behind this is that North America doesn’t consider various divisional and conference titles to compete for the honor. For them, the competition is only for a single honor, and it is the league championship (Trophy in most cases) usually played annually.
The cost and appearance of the championship ring decide the levels of winners as well as the significance of the sport itself. Therefore, rings are a part of the North American sports lexicon and individuals, teams, and clubs are considering championship rings as the mark of success.
The more rings they can secure, the more they believe them successful. Hence, the comparison stuff is the rings, not trophies. Is it interesting? If so, let’s dive into the world of Championship Rings.
What Is a Championship Ring?
Most often championship rings are made of gold, be it yellow or white, with diamonds and precious stones. Rings usually have an engraving of the name of the team, logo, and championship number in Roman numerals.
History of Championship Ring in Sports
- After winning the 1893 Stanley Cup Championship, Montreal Hockey Club distributed the first championship rings among its players. The ring resembling the wedding bands and
- NHL has attempted to distribute rings frequently, but it became the annual custom until the 1960s.
- In the 1922World Series, the first World Series Rings given to the players of the winning team New York Giants.
- In the World Series, championship rings became an annual tradition in the 1930s. <
- American and Canadian clubs and schools have adopted the trend and started awarding championship rings in low-level contests.
- National Rugby League (NRL) in Australia follows the championship ring tradition and in 2014, the ring was worth $8K.
- Similarly, the Australian Supercross Championship offers the premier ring to the winning team.
Who Bear the Cost?
There is no consistency among the four major leagues regarding the policies, including cost and distribution. For example,
- NHL & MLB bear the total cost of rings.
- NFL bears the cost of each ring up to $5K for 150 rings for the Super Bowl-winning teams. The additional cost goes to winning teams/clubs.
- The NBA has a standard design for the rings. However, it allows the winning team to select custom design and materials for the championship rings & league bears the expenses.
The Most Expensive Championship Rings in North American Sports
Wikipedia has cited four best known and expensive championship rings.
- MLB (Major League Baseball) World Series ring
- NBA (National Basketball Association) Championship ring
- NFL (National Football League) Super Bowl ring
- NHL (National Hockey League) Stanley Cup ring
MLB World Series Ring
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The Major League Baseball championship winner team used to get only one Commissioner’s Trophy, but each player gets an individual award as sports memorabilia, and it is a World Series ring. Initially, the ring was simple in design and low in cost due to containing only one diamond. With the pace of time, the number of diamonds and precious gems along with pricy metals typically made it a costly affair. However, increased viewership and income from the championship games have made it affordable to the league. In the 2003 World Series ring, there were more than 200 diamonds! The prestige of the World Series Ring was measured in an auction when Casey Stengel sold it for $180,000. Even once replica rings given to the fan sold each piece at $300. |
NBA Championship Ring
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The National Basketball Association (NBA) offers annual awards to its championship winners in the form of championship rings. Players, coaches, and executives are receiving rings.
Apart from diamonds and precious stones, the NBA championship rings have the engraving of the name of the winner team and its symbol. Year of winning, and name of recipient player. |
NFL Super Bowl Ring
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In the National Football League (NFL) championship, Vince Lombardi (Super Bowl) is the only trophy awarding to the winner team. However, the super bowl rings as the collective memento offer to the actual players and team members. Thus, NFL championship rings become a matter of pride at the individual level and encourage players to do more with better performance in the future. The NFL also awards rings to the winner of NFC and AFC championship games. The yellow or rose gold becomes the metal for the ring and diamonds decorate it. The engraving of the name of the winning team, logo, and slogan appears on the surface of the NFL rings. The NFL only contributes up to $5K, the chances of customization of ring design and a number of rings remain open to the winner club/team. The cost of New England Patriots Super Bowl XLIX rings was $36,500 each. So, it proved the most expensive ring ever. |
NHL Stanley Cup Ring
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The National Hockey League (NHL) issues Stanley Cup as the main trophy and rings as commemorative gifts to the players, coaches, executive and staff members of the winning team. Today, each Stanley Cup ring costs between $20K to $25K but initial rings in the era of 1800s were small wedding bands in shape. However, in 2011 the Boston Bruins gave out 504 rings to anyone connected to the team. |
Conclusion
The most exciting thing of the 2019 NBA Championship ring is there were 20 top tier rings worth of 100K to 150K CAD allocated to winner players and critical team staff. The fifth-tier rings worth CAD 20K was 20K in numbers and distributed to the audience at Scotiabank Arena.
At that time the ring manufacturer had issued replicas of original championship rings along with pendants, and similar accessories matching with championship rings to sale in public.
It has created a worldwide trend to offer championship rings to the different levels of players, teams, clubs, and staff associated with the championship and winners. The corporate world has adopted the championship ring concept and trends in favor of their business and its causes.
Therefore, Olympia is manufacturing and selling championship rings online for the world of Sports, Schools, Academies, and corporate Businesses, as well as SMBs running various promotional and performance-enhancing programs. We respect to custom and challenging yet innovative orders gracefully and deliver as per the anticipation of the buyers. Would you like to try us for custom championship rings replica or unique ring designs? Let’s talk about it.
