It's almost Super Bowl LVI. Who's pumped?! It's a little bit later this year and is now played on the second Sunday in February following the introduction of the 17-game regular season introduced in the 2021 NFL season. As we all get pumped up for the game, let me explain what happens after the Super Bowl so you don't have to wonder once the games finished.
Super Bowl Prizes
The winning Super Bowl team takes home the Vince Lombardi Trophy first awarded in 1967. The original trophy was produced by Tiffany & Co and since 2017 has been manufactured by the company again. Each Super Bowl winner is handed a brand new sterling silver cast of the trophy that they get to keep permanently, unlike the NHL's Stanley Cup which is the same trophy given to each seasons winner.
Super Bowl winning players (as well as runners-up) are given individual Super Bowl rings to keep. Rings will typically include the team's name and logo, the word "World Champions" and the Super Bowl edition number usually written in Roman numerals.
Winning Super Bowl teams can issue however many rings they want but the NFL will only contribute up to $7,000 a ring and up to 150 total rings. Super Bowl champions will generally give rings to players (active, inactive or injured), certain former players, coaches, general staff, trainers and executives. Even practice squad players are entitled to rings under the CBA but can be of a lesser value.
The most expensive Super Bowl rings in history is Denver Broncos Super Bowl 50 rings. They cost $37,000 each and contains 5.05 carats of diamonds made up of 212 round, tapered and marquise shaped small diamonds which is set in a 10 karat gold ring. The New England Patriots' Super Bowl XLIX rings aren't far behind, worth $36,500 and is made up of 205 diamonds.
A Super Bowl ring isn't the only prize that players get. Following Super Bowl LV, Tampa Bay players received $130,000 for their Super Bowl win in line with the collective bargaining agreement. Kansas City players didn't go home empty handed receiving $65,000 for being runners-up.
Buccaneers' players had already accumulated $122,000 in post-season prize money each in the lead up to their Super Bowl win. Chiefs' players earned $3,000 less because of their first round wild card bye. When adding up the totals, Super Bowl winning players take home $255,000.
Tom Brady is the most successful player in Super Bowl history.
Source: Photo by Lance Cpl. Edward L. Mennenga shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
After the Super Bowl
Winners get to celebrate with Super Bowl parades and a couple of players get to go to Disney World for a parade down Main Street the day after winning. Since 1987, a largely unchanged commercial features players from the Super Bowl winning team yelling "I’m going to Disney World". Miraculously it takes place shortly after the game, with contracts signed and all the editing done.
The main Super Bowl parade celebrations in the winning city is a couple days after the game so we're in mid-late February at this stage. These parades are wild and after the Patriots won Super Bowl LIII, an estimated 1.5 million people turned out for the celebrations in Boston.
During the Steelers Super Bowl XLIII celebrations in 2009, strong safety Troy Polamalu crowd surfed during parade celebrations in Pittsburgh. After Tampa Bay's Super Bowl LV win in 2021, Brady threw the Lombardi Trophy boat-to-boat during their boat parade celebrations at Hillsborough River.
At some point during the offseason, Super Bowl champions will usually make a visit to the White House to be honored by the president of the United States.
Phase One Offseason
Players get a break from the NFL and back to their normal lives at the conclusion of their last game of the season but the NFL season officially ends in mid-March. After all the Super Bowl celebrations settle down, Super Bowl winners aren't beginning their offseason until the beginning of March. A team that didn't make the postseason started their offseason at some point in January. Free agency for the next season begins one minute after the official end of the NFL season.
In mid-April - about six weeks after the Super Bowl - Phase One of the NFL offseason then begins. The NFL draft will take place during this phase, the free agency period ends, and team activities are limited to strength and conditioning, virtual meetings and rehabilitation. Teams with a new head coach will usually start the phase at the beginning of April and the phase ends for all teams by mid-May.
Phase Two Offseason
Phase Two begins in mid-May and includes on-field workouts and drills which are strictly done at a walkthrough pace. Players can run through and execute plays but opposing teams on the field cannot initiate contact or impede on the progress of plays. A rookie mini-camp also takes place just prior to Phase Two kicking off.
Phase Three Offseason
Phase Three of the offseason begins in the last week of May and runs until mid-June. NFL sanctioned Organized Team Activities (OTA's) takes place for 10 days during this phase. These OTA's are mostly seminars and lectures in a classroom environment and is a good opportunity for new players in the NFL to acclimatize to the league. Drills are permitted but no contact is allowed. A mandatory minicamp is also held over three days during Phase Three and helps cultivate a teams culture and lays down the foundation for the season ahead.
Training Camps & Preseason
After the three phases of the offseason, training camps take place from late-July through August. These camps are filled with both mentally and physically gruelling activities which includes weightlifting sessions, drills and team meetings.
Players will only get about 2-3 days off throughout August. Training camps take place until pre-season games that begin in August, which leads us into the first week of September when the NFL first regular season game begins.
Players and fans can then go through the journey of another season of NFL football.
The San Francisco 49ers running training camp drills.
Source: Photo by BrokenSphere shared under Creative Commons (CC) license.
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Wolfgang Sport started in 2017 as a way to connect my passion for American and British sports. Today it's evolved into a blockchain sports blog pushing the boundaries into the crypto world and embracing Web3 technologies.