Vince Lombardi Trophy

• 1. Introduction

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  The Vince Lombardi Trophy began as a sketch on a cocktail napkin. During a 1966 lunch with NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle, Tiffany and Co. vice president Oscar Riedner drew what he imagined the NFL's championship prize should look like: a football frozen at the moment of a kick, balanced on a three-sided concave stand. That napkin sketch became the most coveted object in American football. What makes this trophy unlike almost any other in professional sports? Who was the man it was named for, and why does a new one get made every single year? Those questions sit at the heart of what the Lombardi means to the game.

• 2. A Trophy Takes Shape

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  Tiffany and Co. produced the original trophy in Newark, New Jersey. The company has handcrafted every version since, eventually moving production to Parsippany, New Jersey, and as of 2017, to the Tiffany and Co. Forest Hill manufacturing facility in Cumberland, Rhode Island. The finished object stands 22 inches tall, weighs 107.3 ounces (roughly 7 pounds), and is made entirely of sterling silver. Engraved on the base are the words "Vince Lombardi Trophy" and the Roman numerals of that year's Super Bowl, with the NFL shield affixed alongside. After the trophy is awarded, Tiffany's receives it back to engrave the participating teams' names, the date, the location, and the final score before returning it to the winning franchise to keep permanently. Smaller replicas are made for each person on the winning team.

  For the first four championship games, both the NFL and AFL logos appeared in the center of the trophy. Starting with Super Bowl V, only the NFL shield remained on the front. Beginning with Super Bowl XXXVIII, that shield took on a frosted appearance. Starting with Super Bowl XLIII, a slightly redesigned NFL shield replaced it, still frosted. Other than those logo changes, the trophy's design has stayed essentially the same since Super Bowl I. The Green Bay Packers, New England Patriots, New York Giants, and Pittsburgh Steelers each possess three of the four design variations, though no franchise holds all four.

• 3. The Name Behind the Silver

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  The first trophy was awarded on the 15th of January 1967, to the Green Bay Packers after they defeated the Kansas City Chiefs in Super Bowl I. At that point it was inscribed simply with the words "World Professional Football Championship." Vince Lombardi, for whom it would eventually be named, had led the Packers to victory in that game. He would lead them to victory in Super Bowl II as well. When Lombardi died in September of 1970, the NFL renamed the trophy in his memory. The Baltimore Colts received it for the first time under that new name after defeating the Dallas Cowboys in Super Bowl V.

  The renaming honored a coach whose connection to the Green Bay franchise was already part of the trophy's origin story. Packers team president and CEO Bob Harlan accepted the Lombardi Trophy on behalf of the Green Bay community after Super Bowl XXXI, and Mark Murphy did the same after Super Bowl XLV.

• 4. The Permanent Possession Rule

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  Unlike the Stanley Cup or the Grey Cup, where teams share custody of a single prize, every winning NFL franchise gets a brand-new Vince Lombardi Trophy cast each year and keeps it forever. There is one exception to this rule, and it involves a night in March 1984 when the then-Baltimore Colts loaded their belongings onto Mayflower moving trucks and left the city under cover of darkness. The relocation to Indianapolis on the 29th of March 1984, triggered a legal battle, and as part of the settlement, Baltimore retained possession of the Super Bowl V trophy. That trophy is actually a replica: previous owner Carroll Rosenbloom had taken the original with him when he sold the team. Both the relocated Colts and their successors, the Baltimore Ravens, have since won trophies of their own.

  Since Super Bowl XLV, the Lombardi Trophy has also appeared prominently in the Super Bowl logo design itself, making it a visual anchor of the game's branding.

• 5. Who Holds the Record

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  Pittsburgh Steelers have won six Lombardi Trophies, tied with the New England Patriots for the most in league history. The Steelers collected four of theirs in a remarkable six-year stretch during the 1970s: 1974, 1975, 1978, and 1979. The Dallas Cowboys and San Francisco 49ers each hold five. The Kansas City Chiefs have earned four, with three of those coming in recent years: 2019, 2022, and 2023.

  As an individual player, Tom Brady won seven Super Bowls across his career with the New England Patriots and Tampa Bay Buccaneers, more than any single franchise. As an individual coach, Bill Belichick has won eight Super Bowls combined as a defensive coordinator with the New York Giants and as head coach with the New England Patriots, also more than any single franchise or player. No team has ever won three consecutive Super Bowls, but the Dallas Cowboys (1992, 1993-1995) and the New England Patriots (2001, 2003-2004) each won three trophies in four years.

• 6. The Ceremony on the Field

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  From Super Bowl I through Super Bowl XXIX, the trophy was handed to the winning team's owner inside the locker room. Since Super Bowl XXX in January 1996, the presentation has taken place on a stage built on the field. A broadcaster from the network airing the game hosts the ceremony: Terry Bradshaw has hosted every Fox presentation since Super Bowl XXXI, with Michael Strahan substituting at Super Bowl XLVIII. Jim Nantz has handled the duty for CBS since Super Bowl XXXV. Dan Patrick hosted for NBC from Super Bowl XLIII through Super Bowl LII, and Mike Tirico hosted for NBC at Super Bowl LVI.

  During the handoff, "The Lombardi Trophy Theme," composed by David Robidoux in 2005, plays in the background. The winning owner, winning coach, winning quarterback, and the game MVP are typically recognized on stage. One ceremony stood apart from all others: at Super Bowl V, the trophy was not presented by the commissioner at all. Instead, Vince Lombardi's widow, Marie, performed the presentation honors. From Super Bowl XL onward, a rotating cast of NFL legends has carried the trophy to center field; Bart Starr, Joe Namath, Roger Staubach, and Emmitt Smith are among those who have held the trophy in that ceremonial walk.

• 7. The Gronkowski Dent

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  On the 9th of April 2019, Rob Gronkowski used the Super Bowl LIII Lombardi Trophy as a bat. Gronkowski, who had retired from the New England Patriots two weeks earlier, was at the Boston Red Sox season opener to throw the ceremonial first pitch alongside his former teammates. During a pre-pitch practice, he bunted a pitch thrown by wide receiver Julian Edelman with the trophy, leaving a baseball-sized dent in the silver. It was the Patriots' sixth trophy and Gronkowski's third championship.

  The Patriots released a humorous documentary-style video about the incident. Special teamer Matthew Slater, who witnessed it firsthand, said that if anyone could get away with it, it would be "the MVP" (Edelman) and "the future Hall of Famer" (Gronkowski). Patriots vice president of media relations Stacey James said the team planned to keep the dent for the time being and simply tell the story that came with it.