(27 Jan 2025)
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Ada, Ohio – 27 January 2025
1. Various of employee stitching the football
2. Tight of machine
3. SOUNDBITE (English) Kasey Patton, Plant Manager, Wilson Football Factory:
“We come in and we watch the AFC, NFC Championship games. Once it’s over, we all spring into action and go out there and start stamping footballs.”
4. Pan of the production floor
5. Medium of working turning football
6. SOUNDBITE (English) Kasey Patton, Plant Manager, Wilson Football Factory:
“Being part of the, the story. Being on the largest stage in the world in two weeks, so it’s just the buzz man, it’s, it’s the pride that these people have and the craftsmanship that goes on out there.”
7. Various of employee inspecting leather
8. Various of employees cutting leather in shape of a football
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Kasey Patton, Plant Manager, Wilson Football Factory:
“Today, we’re, we’re still running some bulk footballs. There’s, it’s a 20-step process, so we’re, we’re still cutting leather, we’re sewing liners on the leather, we’re sewing the balls together through lock stitch for the NFL game balls and then lacing them up. Yeah, after that, we do a 100% quality inspection on all balls.”
10. Various of employee stamping Super Bowl logo on ball
11. Various of employee printing team names on the Super Bowl ball
12. SOUNDBITE (English) Kasey Patton, Plant Manager, Wilson Football Factory:
“None of this would be possible without the individuals on the production floor. It’s all about the craftsmen and women that handcraft this football here in Ada, Ohio.”
13. Various of employee stitching football
14. Various of employee turning football
15. SOUNDBITE (English) Kasey Patton, Plant Manager, Wilson Football Factory:
“Since 1941, we began our partnership with the NFL, so every snap in every NFL game has come out of Ohio.”
16. Various of employee tying stitches on ball
STORYLINE:
As soon as this year’s Super Bowl matchup was set, workers at the Wilson Sporting Goods football factory jumped into action.
The factory in the rural village of Ada, Ohio, makes the game balls used by every NFL team along with many of the nation’s top college programs and high schools.
But this time of year it’s all about the Super Bowl. The Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs will face off for the Lombardi Trophy for the second time in three years on Feb. 9 in New Orleans.
The two teams will each get a shipment of 108, plus a dozen more for the kickers, all stamped with the Super Bowl logo and team names. Some of the balls will be for practices, while the best ones will be set aside by the quarterbacks. About 50 of those will be bagged and locked away for each team until it’s time for kickoff.
Wilson makes five different sizes for players of all levels, from the pros to youth leagues. Some have different patterns. NFL balls are notable for the lack of a stripe on the ends. They’re also embedded with a chip that tracks the ball’s position on the field, how far it travels and its trajectory.
Normally it takes three days from start to finish. But the first batch of footballs must be sent to the Super Bowl teams Monday, within about 18 hours, so they have enough time to break them in for practices and the game. That’s why the workers start production right away the night of the conference title games.
"None of this would be possible without the individuals on the production floor. It’s all about the craftsmen and women that handcraft this football here in Ohio," said Plant Manager Kasey Patton.
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