Lord Stanley reigns over most expensive trophies

[Lukester]

By Glenn Wilkins, Investopedia.com
Nov 29, 6:15 pm EST


Football coach Vince Lombardi is alleged to have said “winning isn’t everything; it’s the only thing.” Indeed, there is an enormous emotional high that comes with winning a championship at a sport’s highest level, but the amount of money sports leagues spend to reward their champions is nearly as large. Here’s a breakdown of the cost of those rewards, at least in dollars and cents.

Super Bowl Trophy – $50,000:
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The trophy handed to the NFL champion and named in Lombardi’s honor is no ordinary piece of tin. This sterling-silver Tiffany and Co.-created trophy is nearly two-feet tall and shaped like a kick-ready football. Done from scratch every year, it costs $50,000 and takes four months to complete. The words “Vince Lombardi Trophy” and the NFL shield are engraved onto the base.

After the final gun sounds, the seven-pound trophy is presented to the winning team, then sent back to Tiffany’s to be engraved with the winning team’s name, the date and final score of the Super Bowl. The trophy is then sent back to the winning team for them to keep.


World Series Trophy – $15,000:
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San Franciscan fans are glimpsing a rare sight, one they haven’t seen since they inherited the Giants from New York in 1958 – a World Series championship. For launching all those home run balls into the bay and then beating the Texas Rangers this month in five games, Bruce Bochy’s charges won what is called the Commissioner’s Trophy.

Even though there has been a World Series since 1903, the trophy wasn’t doled out until 1967. As with the Lombardi Trophy, a new Commissioner’s Trophy is created each year.

The current trophy design, tweaked a bit in 1999 and also a Tiffany production, is also in silver and is worth approximately $15,000. It’s also two-feet tall, weighs around 30 pounds, with 30 gold-plated flags – one for each Major League team – grouped around a silver baseball that contains 24-karat vermeil stitches.


NBA Trophy – $13,500:
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Basketball’s biggest prize is named after the man who headed the league for eight years (and the Democratic National Committee, when its offices at the Watergate Hotel in Washington were ransacked that fateful night in 1972): the Larry O’Brien NBA Championship Trophy.

The current silver trophy (also Tiffany’s), designed in 1984, weighs 14.5 pounds with a 24-karat gold overlay. It also stands two-feet tall (unlike the players who battle for it), with a nine-inch basketball going through the hoop. Valued at $13,500, the trophy is remade every year, with the winning team keeping that year’s version to display in their home court.


Stanley Cup – $650,000 plus travel costs:
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In 1892, the governor-general of Canada, Lord Stanley, bought a punch bowl from a London silversmith for what amounted to about $48.67 U.S., or just more than $1,100 U.S. with inflation, to reward the top hockey club in Canada. The Cup initially stood about seven inches tall and about a foot in diameter.

Now, of course, the Cup doesn’t look anything like that itty-bitty punch bowl of 1893. Over the years, tiered rings were added to the bottom of the bowl, then long narrow bands, then uneven bands. Because Lord Stanley’s mug is the only professional sports trophy where the name of every member of the winning team is inscribed (Hockey Hall of Fame Curator Phil Pritchard says engraving costs roughly $1,000 annually), bands are often retired to make room for new champions.

At nearly three-feet high and weighing more than 34 pounds, the current Cup dwarfs the others. Despite its size, it still does a lot of traveling: Each member of the winning team, coaching, training and office staff gets possession of the mug for 24 hours during the offseason. Pritchard says the cost of arranging that depends on where the Cup is going and coming from, but he estimates “around $2,000, which includes transportation, accommodations, etc.”

Like other sports, Pritchard also says the players each receive a Stanley Cup ring (which he estimates to cost $30,000 per player) and a mini-version of the Cup, which costs about $1,000 to $1,500 each.

The bottom line

What this story cannot convey, of course, is the emotional cost of the tireless effort and commitment that players have to expend to win these trophies. Love of the sport and winning the big prize is something you can’t place a dollar value on.

[thinkingdog]

You forgot the Grey Cup for the CFL: $1.97.

[thinkingdog]

Also, arguably the Stanley Cup is the most difficult professional sports trophy to win.

[Davydave]

Also, the best looking trophy.

[LordCC]

I LOVE the Stanely Cup, it looks magnificent & that is the trophy I would love to win out of them all.

[Lukester]

Originally Posted by thinkingdog

You forgot the Grey Cup for the CFL: $1.97.

Was that the original price about 100 years ago?
(...or are you trying to say that's all us Alouette fans got --lol)

[Lukester]

I was told a long time ago there is a huge difference between a Bowl (or Cup) and a Trophy by a seller/engraver...doubt there's any significance for winning any big last game's prize but that's what he was saying.

[HAMILROCK]

what about the world cup? Is there a price on that anywhere?

[HAMILROCK]

It’s the world’s most important sporting event. On 11th July, one team, one country, will get to hold the 36cm, 18 carat gold World Cup trophy high above their heads.

Italian sculptor Silvio Gazzaniga, who said he is not a diehard football fan himself but does watch the World Cup final to see his trophy raised, designed the current trophy in 1971. At the time, the trophy cost about US$50,000. Today, the trophy is worth over US$10 million.

“I didn't think it would become so important, particularly to young people, or that it would come to represent peace,” Gazzaniga said. “I'm very proud to have done my little bit to help spread peace in the world through sport. Sport brings people and nations together, and is much more important than many of us believe.”

Cash4Gold, the world’s number one gold buyer direct from the public, recently said that the trophy has almost doubled in melt value since the 2006 World Cup in Germany. The rise in the price of gold has meant that the melt value of the trophy has gone from US$96,476 to an astonishing US$187,761. Melt value is the amount of actual precious metal contained in an item that can be extracted and recycled by a company such as Cash4Gold, and does not account for decorative, artistic or historic value.

“Football trophies are obviously of more than monetary worth to fans and teams,” said Jeff Aronson, CEO and founder of Cash4Gold. “And Fifa would probably have something to say if Fabio Capelllo sent in the trophy to Cash4Gold should England win!”

Even though it is quite valuable, the trophy is also quite simple. The football, at the top of the trophy, is similar to the world, with the human figures emerging at the base supporting it.

“I didn't want to add too many details, as it would've cheapened the sculpture and lessened its impact,” Gazzaniga said. “So I did the sculpture all at once, although there were things to refine later. I would modestly suggest that this intense affection for the Trophy comes from the object itself, and what it stands for. It is a symbol of victory, and they're thrilled to have won it, which is why they kiss it as they would kiss a religious relic.”

Fifa said that the trophy is insured, but the cost of it is immeasurable because its value could far exceed the replacement cost. While the cost of a replacement for the trophy can be insured, an additional sum may offered as a reward for its safe return and the conviction of those who had taken it, in the event that it is stolen or lost.

At the end of the World Cup, the winning team does not take the trophy home. But rather, it remains with Fifa, while the winners get a gold-plated replica to keep.

[FalconFreak]

Travel to see World Cup $10,000.00
World Cup Trophy $1,000,000.00
Watching the games.....Painfull