If you’ve ever sat in the stands of a college football championship game, watching confetti rain down on the field as the winning team hoists the trophy, you’ve probably glanced at the players and coaches on the sideline and wondered what that shiny, oversized ring glinting on their finger is all about. As someone who’s spent the last decade on the ground floor of the championship ring industry—my company’s name is well-known in the college football circuit, though I’ll keep it casual here, just two guys who showed up to a 2012 FCS championship game with a beat-up toolbox and a dream— I get asked this question at least once a week. Fans, former players, even random bar regulars will pull me aside at happy hours and say, “Dude, how do those rings even get made? It’s not like they just hand them out after the game.” They’re right. It’s not. There’s a months-long, hyper-specific process behind every one of those rings, and I’ve lived through every messy, exciting step of it. Football Championship Ring
Let’s start with the timeline, because that’s the first thing that catches most people off guard. When I say “months-long,” I’m not talking four or five. We usually start talking to college athletic departments about a potential ring 10 to 12 months before the championship game kicks off. Wait, before you roll your eyes and think, “That’s overkill,” let me break down why. A championship ring isn’t just a piece of jewelry—it’s a lifetime keepsake, something a player will pass down to their kid, a coach will keep on their desk long after they retire, and a university will display in their hall of fame as a symbol of a season that defined their program. Cut corners on the design, and you’re not just disappointing a team—you’re ruining a legacy.
The first step in the process is getting the official go-ahead from the athletic department and the NCAA. No, the NCAA doesn’t just send us a text that says “Go make rings.” There’s a formal proposal process that starts right after the regular season, when the top teams start emerging as title contenders. We’ll sit down with the athletic director, the head coach, the team’s captains, and even a couple of senior players to hash out the basics: how many rings we need, what the budget is, and the non-negotiables the team wants in their design. Last year, for example, the Alabama Crimson Tide’s staff was dead set on including the number 12 (their legendary fanbase, the 12th Man) on every single ring, and they wanted the design to be bold enough that you could see it from the back of Bryant-Denny Stadium. A few years before that, when Georgia won the national title, the team wanted a subtle nod to their late trainer, John Hartwell, who’d been with the program for 40 years, so we worked that into the inner band of every ring, something only the players and their families would notice. That’s the kind of detail that takes time to nail down.
Once we lock in the basics, we move on to the design phase, and this is where the magic (and the back-and-forth) really happens. We don’t just show up with a handful of sketches and say “Pick one.” We create multiple prototypes—usually three to four full 3D models, plus a bunch of small test pieces—to show the team. We use professional CAD software to build every curve, every letter, every stone, so the team can spin the ring around on a screen, zoom in, and see exactly what it will look like when it’s made. Last year, when a Big 12 team won the championship, their first prototype had the conference logo on the side, but when we zoomed in, the logo was a little too small, and the team worried it would wear off over time. So we went back, reworked it, made the logo twice as big, and added a clear enamel coat over it to make it durable. Another time, a FCS team wanted to include a small football charm on the ring, but the charm kept catching on clothes, so we had to reshape it into a curved, smooth piece that still looked like a football but wouldn’t snag. This phase usually takes two to three months, because teams will tweak things 10, 15, sometimes 20 times before they’re happy. It’s not about being fussy—it’s about making sure every ring tells the story of that specific season.
Once the design is final, we move to production, and this is where the process gets really hands-on. We don’t outsource the whole thing to a factory overseas, not anymore. Most of our work is done right here in our workshop in Dallas, where we have a team of 12 jewelers, stone setters, engravers, and finishers who’ve been with us for years. The first step in production is creating a “master ring” from the final design. This is a full-size, functional prototype that we use to make molds for all the other rings. We use a process called lost-wax casting for this, which has been used for jewelry for thousands of years, but we’ve tweaked it over the years to make it durable enough for athletes who will wear these rings every day, not just put them on for a photo. We melt a special alloy of gold (usually 10k or 14k, it’s durable and affordable for large orders) to pour into the mold, and let it cool slowly to prevent cracking.
After the master ring is cast, we spend hours polishing it, getting every edge smooth, every letter sharp. Then comes the stone setting, and this is the part that makes people gasp when they see the rings in person. Most college championship rings have between 10 and 20 stones—diamonds, sapphires, sometimes even colored gemstones that match the team’s colors. For the center stone, we usually use a 1 to 2 carat stone, but larger orders mean we have to make sure every stone is the same size and cut. Last year, when we did rings for a team of 150 players, coaches, and staff, we ordered 1,800 small accent stones, and we had to sort through every single one to make sure they were perfect—no chips, no uneven cuts, nothing that would make a ring look less than the best. The stone setting is done by hand, too. Our best stone setter has been with us for 8 years, and she can set a stone in less than two minutes, with a precision that’s impossible to get with a machine. She’ll hold the ring in one hand, use tiny pliers to bend the metal prongs over the stone, and make sure it’s tight enough that the stone won’t fall out during a season, but not so tight that it scratches the stone.
Once all the stones are set, we do a final polish, then move on to the inner band. This is the secret part of every championship ring—this is where the team puts the names of every player, every coach, every staff member on the roster, plus the year of the championship, and sometimes a small message that only the people on that team will understand. Last year, the LSU Tigers put a line from their fight song on the inner band, and a few players added the jersey numbers of their late teammates, who couldn’t be there but were part of the season. Engraving the inner band is another step that requires precision. We use a combination of laser engraving for the names and numbers, and hand engraving for the small, custom messages, because hand engraving gives it a personal touch that laser can’t. It takes about an hour per ring to engrave the inner band, and if we mess up a name, we have to start over—there’s no fixing a misspelled name on a championship ring. That’s why we have two people check every single name before we engrave it.
Now, let’s talk about the order quantity. How many rings does a team get? It’s usually based on the size of the team and staff, but it can vary. For a Power 5 team with a full roster of 85 players, plus coaches, training staff, equipment managers, and support staff, that’s usually 100 to 150 rings. But teams often buy extra rings for former players, right? A lot of alumni will reach out a year or two after the championship and ask for a ring, so we keep a couple of extra master molds on hand, just in case. That’s another reason the process is so long—we never know how many extra rings we’ll need, but we want to make sure we can fulfill those requests down the line.
Once the rings are finished, there’s one final step: quality control. We don’t ship any ring out the door until every single one is inspected by at least two people on our team, plus a representative from the athletic department. We check for loose stones, scratches, misspelled names, uneven polish, everything. Last year, we had one ring where the “0” in the championship year was slightly lopsided, so we pulled it aside and re-engraved it, even though the team was rushing to get them to the championship ceremony. It’s not worth sending a defective ring to a player. The ceremony where we hand off the rings is always my favorite part of the whole process. We bring the rings in a big, velvet-lined box, and the team gathers in a room, and we hand each ring to the player or coach. I’ve seen grown men cry when they get their ring, I’ve seen coaches lift it above their heads and cheer, I’ve seen junior players who’d been on the team for four years finally get their moment of glory. That’s why I do this, not just for the money, but for that feeling.
Wait, but what about the process for teams that don’t win the championship? A lot of people ask, do we make rings for the runner-up? The answer is yes, but it’s a much smaller order, and the design is different. The runner-up rings don’t have the same center stone size, they don’t have the same bold design, and they’re usually ordered at a fraction of the cost of the championship rings. But we still take the same care with them. Last year, when the championship game was between two teams from the same conference, we made 150 championship rings for the winning team and 60 runner-up rings for the losing team, and every single one was inspected with the same level of care.
I’ve been in this industry for 12 years now, and I’ve seen a lot of changes. When I first started, everything was done by hand, no 3D design, no CAD, and prototypes would take months to make. Now, we use technology to make the process faster, but we still keep the handcrafted parts because that’s what makes the rings special. A championship ring isn’t just a symbol of winning—it’s a symbol of hard work, of late nights in the weight room, of losing games and coming back, of being part of something bigger than yourself. That’s why every step of the process has to be done right. You can’t rush this. You can’t cut corners. If you do, you’re not just making jewelry—you’re breaking a memory that someone will carry for the rest of their life.
If you’re a college athletic department, a team manager, or someone looking to order championship rings for a past season, my team and I are here to help. We’ve worked with FCS teams, Power 5 teams, even high school teams that went on to win state championships, and we have the experience to make a ring that you’ll be proud to give to your team. We know that every season is different, every team has different needs, and we take the time to listen, to tweak, to perfect every detail. We don’t just sell rings—we help you create a keepsake that will last a lifetime. So if you’re ready to start the process, reach out to our team, and we’ll walk you through every step, from the initial design to the final handoff.
Football Championship Ring References:
- NCAA Championship Ring Guidelines, National Collegiate Athletic Association, 2023
- The History of College Football Championship Rings, Sports Collectors Digest, 2022
- “Behind the Scenes: Making of a National Championship Ring”, ESPN College Football, 2021
- Jewelry Industry Standards for Custom Championship Rings, Gemological Institute of America, 2020
- Interviews with Division I Athletic Department Ring Coordinators, 2019–2023
Champion Ring Manufacturing Factory
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