Wilson Sporting Goods has been the sole supplier of balls to the NFL, including the Super Bowl, since 1941. The manufacturer produces 700,000 footballs annually, and Wilson provides each team with about 780 game balls, for a total of about 24,960 balls throughout a season.
Each team brings a total of 24 balls to each game during the regular season —12 balls primarily and 12 as a backup. For the Super Bowl, the figure rises to 54 for each team.
On Super Bowl game day, the two teams hand up their 54 footballs to the administrators for assessment. DNA ink is then placed on the laces to identify the balls as actual on-field footballs.
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You will see the game's ball handlers scrambling frantically to get each ball a legitimate flip during the first few minutes of the Super Bowl. A Super Bowl ball should naturally have more value than a regular ball, and Wilson Sporting Goods has a strategy for that to demonstrate the integrity of the Super Bowl.
For Super Bowl LVII, a total of 228 footballs will be utilized. Both the Kansas City Chiefs and the Philadelphia Eagles will receive 108 footballs. They will bring another 54 to the game and use 54 for practice. Twelve kicking footballs, all of which are produced in Ada, will also be used.
How do they make footballs for Super Bowl?
Every NFL football is handmade in a modest American village. Every NFL football, along with the ones that will be featured in Sunday's Super Bowl LVII, is produced in Ada, Ohio. It then travels from the Ohio production line to Southern California.
The cutout is where the football making starts. Before it's prepared for play, it must pass through 20 distinct procedures in a 38,000-square-foot structure and go through many hands.
The inside-out ball is sewn together as the preliminary stage in its creation. All the material through the ball is then pushed to get the exterior brown coating. The most challenging duty at the Wilson facility is turning the ball right-side out, which is done by a turner hand.
To fill up the ball before it enters the final shaping step, the sewer tightly shuts the aperture and inserts a bladder into the ball.
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