A championship ring is a ring presented to members of winning teams in professional sports leagues,[1] and—in North America—college tournaments. In recent years, it has become common for American, and Canadian high schools to give championship rings to teams that win the state or provincial championship in their given sport, usually football. In professional sports leagues—such as the National Football League (NFL) and Major League Baseball (MLB)—the runner-ups of the league championship game/series is awarded a ring, being the champion of their conference (sub-league).
It is unclear which team officials get championship rings. According to one commentator, Daniel Mahler, rings are distributed to in-house legal counsel. Other commentators, including Richard Luft, suggest rings are distributed to all medical staff including the team doctor.
The National Rugby League (NRL)—the premier Australasian Rugby League competition—also present rings for the players and coach of Premiership sides. The Melbourne Storm were stripped of their premierships in 2007 and 2009, but the players involved in those premierships were still allowed to keep their premiership rings.