Getty Image / Michael Zagaris
A video of the San Francisco 49ers’ rookie dinner went viral after a bill for the dinner totaling $332,000 went viral.
‘Rookie dinners’ in the NFL are notorious hazing opportunities for veterans to run up the bill on rookies all because they once had to foot the bill when they were rookies. It’s a never-ending cycle of rookie hazing in the NFL that can cost rookies a LOT of money.
Niners veteran DE Arik Armstead has since cleared up what was happening. He claimed it was all a prank.
This should have been evident for anyone looking closely at the dinner bill. The actual total for food and beverage was $6,703.86. There is a suggested 17% gratuity of $987.19. Bring the suggested total to $7,691.05.
However, if someone like a rookie who had been swishing back wine wasn’t reading the details and their eyes went straight to the bottom of the 49ers rookie dinner bill they would have seen ‘$322,39105’ at the very bottom. Our eyes are trained to read the bottom of receipts for totals. 49ers DE Erik Armstead posted a video of the fake bill that then went viral:
After the real total of $7,691.05 there’s some trickery afoot and the server was in on the 49ers rookie dinner prank. It shows a deposit of $122,500.00, a Visa charge for $115,191.05, and an additional gratuity of $200,000.00 which brings the fake total to $322,391.05.
For anyone who had a few drinks and looked at the bottom of the bill they might’ve passed out at the sight of a $322K 49ers rookie dinner bill. On Twitter, Arik Armstead cleared the air about the 49ers rookie dinner bill.
Armstead said “Y’all silly if you thought a dinner can cost 300k. It was a prank. The waitress went overboard.” He added “the dinner was 7500 me and 2 other vets gave 1k towards it. The rooks split 4500. We had a great time too. I had good vets as a young player I would never do a rookie like that.”
Y’all silly if you thought a dinner can cost 300k . It was a prank. The waitress went overboard . The dinner was 7500 me and 2 other vets gave 1k towards it . The rooks split 4500. We had a great time too. I had good vets as a young player I would never do a rookie like that .
— Arik Armstead (@arikarmstead) December 20, 2022
During his 8 seasons with the San Francisco 49ers, Arik Armstead has earned $68,923,611. He stands to earn $16.7M in 2023 and $18.26M in 2024 for career NFL earnings of $103,923,611. That’s not too shabby for the former #17 pick in the 2015 NFL Draft out of Oregon.
The comments about the 49ers rookie dinner tweet revealed people don’t understand that it’s a ‘prank’. Others seem to be hearing about NFL rookie dinner hazing for the very first time.
The point if those dinners are for the rookies to pay for it, it happens to rookies on every team every year like tradition lol. Get a grip
— 𝓒𝓱𝓻𝓲𝓼 (@akaChrisx) December 20, 2022
Now I’m going to be thinking about truffle gnocchi all day…
https://twitter.com/pilar_tooraw/status/1605072293943615488
That’s called tax write offs
— JustJoe Bro (@BroJustjoe) December 20, 2022
Sometimes you just gotta splurge on dinner. Don’t yuck someone else’s yum.
Let people celebrate their successes man, stop pocket watching. If your offended by someone saying it’s only 7500, that’s a reflection of your own self pity. Not a good look. Something got 2 change.
— sosa🥢 (@Arij19_) December 20, 2022
The San Francisco 49ers have already clinched the NFC West title. They are playoffs bound. Let the big guys eat whatever they want…