Hundreds of miles from the epicenter of deflate-gate, it’s business as usual at the Wilson Football factory in the small farm town of Ada, Ohio.
“I love the game of football and we make balls that go from the backyard clear to the NFL,” a factory employee said.
More than 130 workers are cutting, stitching, lacing and sewing 3,000 footballs per day preparing for their biggest showcase of the year: Super Bowl XLIX, when Wilson Footballs will take the world stage.
“At some point during the game, several times probably, you say we made that ball, we made that ball, you do keep your eye on that ball a little more than if you were just a fan,” Wilson plant manager Dan Riegle said.
Wilson controls about 70 percent of the market, with the NFL being its longest, largest and most lucrative partner.
Since 1941, every NFL game ball that’s appeared in the super bowl has been made at the Wilson Football factory.
Only this year, the football-maker finds itself in the spotlight for other reasons.
“Our job here as far as manufacturing footballs is to know that when the balls leaves here they have 13lbs of air pressure in them and that’s out of our control after it leaves the building,” Riegle said.
Wilson will provide 54 custom footballs to each Super Bowl team, and will make another 10,000 commemorative balls for fans.
“My proudest moment every year is when they kick off at the Super Bowl. The focus on that ball being kicked off, and to know that football came from Ada, Ohio and it was made by our people is just a great feeling,” Riegle said.
All them, made by hand, from the laces to the leather, by a workforce committed to creating the perfect football.
“Without Wilson, the game would be pointless,” Riegle said.