04/20/24
August 23, 2009
Small Ohio Factory Makes All NFL Footballs: At a small factory in Ada, Ohio, only a few hours from Canton, the 150 workers at the Wilson football factory have been making official footballs for the NFL since 1941. This five-minute YouTube documentary describes the care and craftsmanship that goes into each one. The NFL is the only major sports league in America that gets its game balls from an American company, according to a February 2008 New York Times feature. The factory makes 700,000 footballs a year. "The factory here in Ada is the only football factory in the world that makes footballs every day," said plant manager Dan Riegle, "and that's the only product we manufacture."
The inside-outer guy should have Popeye arms after doing that job for decades.
posted by rcade at 12:03 PM on August 24, 2009
If I remember correctly, they also make all of the CFL footballs as well.
posted by jc at 08:21 PM on August 24, 2009
If I remember correctly, they also make all of the CFL footballs as well.
So then the CFL's famous "Our Balls Are Bigger" slogan isn't really referring to "our balls"???
I saw something about this quite a while ago on some TV broadcast. Can anyone remember if there was some controversy a few years ago about "slippery" balls or something to that effect? Had something to do with the timing and the environmental conditions (humidity or some other factor) at the time of manufacturing.
posted by Spitztengle at 04:44 PM on August 25, 2009
Or maybe I was thinking about this story about the special teams "K" balls?
posted by Spitztengle at 05:27 PM on August 25, 2009
Can anyone remember if there was some controversy a few years ago about "slippery" balls or something to that effect?
I'm not sure if it was Slippery Balls, or Schweddy Balls, but Alec Baldwin was involved somehow.
posted by tommybiden at 05:32 PM on August 25, 2009
Loved the video and how long people worked there...20,30 years, great job but I wouldn't want to turn the football inside out that looks difficult and doing the laces to perfection...wow