The $25,000 Rookie Dinner Has N.F.L. Players Divided

Young athletes are expected to treat their veteran teammates to an exorbitant meal. Is it a form of team bonding — or hazing by another name?

Credit...Antonio SortinoA bottle of Screaming Eagle cabernet sauvignon: $3,495. Nineteen shots of Rémy Martin Louis XIII Cognac: $4,525. Rib-eye steaks, seafood platters, bottles of Voss water: $1,014.

For many diners, that would seem an outlandish amount to spend on a meal, even for a large group. For athletes in the National Football League, it’s a decades-old ritual known as the rookie dinner — an exorbitant meal that new players are expected to finance for their teammates.

In this particular case, the bill for a 2014 meal at a Del Frisco’s steakhouse…