The Super Bowl is almost here. Who’s ready for the biggest football game of the year?

Employees at the Wilson Sporting Goods football factory are.

You can find the factory in the rural village of Ada, Ohio. Workers there make the game balls used by every team in the National Football League (NFL). 

Many of the nation’s top college programs and high schools get their footballs from Wilson too. But this time of year, it’s all about the Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off on February 9 in New Orleans, Louisiana.

Read on to learn about the event’s game balls.

• How many balls are made for the big game?

Each team gets a shipment of 108. A dozen more come for the kickers. Every ball is stamped with the Super Bowl logo and team names. Some of the balls will be for practices. The quarterbacks set aside the best ones. The factory makes many more souvenir balls for fans to buy.

• How are NFL footballs different from other footballs?

Unlike other footballs, NFL balls don’t have stripes on the ends. They’re also embedded with a chip. The chips track exactly how far the balls move during the game. 

• How long does it take to make a football? 

Normally it takes three days from start to finish. But the Super Bowl balls get a rush order. The balls are made and sent out in less than 24 hours. 

• How is a football made?

It’s a 20-step process. Most of it happens by hand. Workers cut four leather panels. They sew these together with 250 stitches. Then they put in the laces. For NFL footballs, the work goes to the factory’s most experienced and skilled workers. Kevin Murphy is the general manager of Wilson Team Sports. He says, “It’s like making a beautiful, sculpted pair of shoes.”

• How do the balls become game ready?

The balls are weighed and measured. Workers check them for flaws. Then they check again. By the time the balls are ready to ship, each one will have been touched by about 50 workers.

• How many does the factory normally produce?

Roughly 500,000 footballs each year. That’s about 2,500 per day. Each NFL team goes through several hundred every season.

Wilson has made every NFL football since 1941. 

He has filled them with skill to do every sort of work.  — Exodus 35:35