According to a press release from Wilson, the National Football League (NFL) and Wilson Sporting Goods have renewed and extended their contract, naming Wilson again as the league’s official football. This partnership has lasted since 1941.
As part of the multi-year extension, Wilson debuted its new factory in Ada, Ohio, where it manufactures genuine Wilson footballs (SGI wrote about it a year ago). Wilson’s NFL ball, called The Duke is now the official football of NFL’s international Flag programs, continuing Wilson and the NFL’s mission to grow American football across various demographics and countries, including flag football, a sport that is very popular in schools.
NFL Flag, the official flag football program of the NFL, brings the non-contact version of football to young athletes and is played across 12 markets globally. Fast, highly accessible and inclusive, flag football is spearheading growth in participation. It is reportedly “played by over 20 million people across 100 countries, with women and girls driving some of the sport’s fastest growth.”
At almost 7,500 sqm, the new factory in Ada is more than twice as large as the old facility and will be able to produce around 1 million footballs per year.
Every Wilson NFL game football has been handcrafted at Wilson’s facilities in Ada, OH, through a 20-step process. Wilson’s football factory is the world’s oldest factory, producing only game-ready leather footballs. Wilson debuted its new and improved football factory, nearly doubling the capacity of the previous plant.
