NFL Balls: What is a Football Made Of?
by Will Brown,
June 20, 2025
There is perhaps no other sporting good more emblematic of American sports than the NFL football. Over the past 150 years, footballs have evolved from their pigskin origins to the handcrafted marvels of design and construction that they are today. But what is a football made of, and how are they made? In this guide, we’ve tracked the history of the American football and delved into the materials and manufacturing process behind professional and consumer balls.
How Are NFL Footballs Made?
Modern professional NFL footballs are constructed in Ohio using high-quality materials such as premium rawhide leather and durable synthetics. But it hasn’t always been this way. To get started, we’ve discussed the evolution of the football before breaking down how modern balls are built.
We’ve then explored the science behind the football’s iconic design, before explaining the differences between professional-level balls and consumer balls. To round out the article, we’ve looked at the variation of the ball for college football before exploring potential evolutions in the future.
- The Evolution of the NFL Ball
- How NFL Balls Are Made
- The Science of Football Design
- Differences in Pro vs Consumer Balls
- Design Variations for College Football
- The Future of NFL Ball Design
The Evolution of the NFL Football
The modern NFL football has evolved significantly over the sport’s long history. When the sport was developed in the 1870s, primitive footballs were nearly spherical and similar to a modern rugby ball. They were constructed of an inflated pig bladder wrapped in leather, which led to its enduring nickname of “pigskin”.
Over the subsequent decades, the ball took a more elongated shape to suit the changing rules of the game, such as the legalization of the forward pass in 1906. Its new design allowed for the ball to be thrown for longer distances and with greater accuracy. By the 1930s, the ball’s ends became more pointed to accommodate spiral throws.
In 1935, the NFL football was standardized, which included changing its dimensions to 21″ x 11″ x 7″. This new design represented the culmination of more than 60 years of evolution, with the modern ball refined for ease of throwing and handling. While the ball’s dimensions haven’t changed, there have been advances in materials used and textures.
Other advances include the introduction of white stripes for improved visibility at night in 1941 and the 1955 standardization of the ball’s circumference and weight of between 14 and 15 ounces. How a football is made has changed little since this time, though manufacturing improvements have improved its functionality and durability.
Materials and Manufacturing: How is a Football Made?
In 1941, the NFL established an exclusive contract with Wilson Sporting Goods to manufacture its balls, a relationship that remains today. Since 1955, balls have been produced at Wilson’s factories in Ada, Ohio, where skilled craftspeople hand make approximately 500,000 balls per year. Of these, around 27,000 are used for professional NFL practice and games.
But what is a football made of? The first step of construction involves sourcing premium cowhide leather from Midwestern tanneries. The leather then undergoes a tanning process that takes weeks, with chromium sulfate used to produce the ball’s durability, flexibility, and grip. This leather is cut into four pieces, with two elongated panels and two smaller end pieces.
These panels are embossed with a pebble texture, stamped with the NFL logo, laced, and sewn together from the inside to hide the stitching. The seams include multiple rows of stitching in specialized machines, with the white stripes painted on by hand. The ball is also steamed before the end of stitching to help with stretching and shaping.
And what are the laces on a football made of? While leather was historically used, synthetic PVC-based plastic is now used for improved handling. The sewn panels are fitted over a synthetic rubber bladder that provides the ball’s shape and retains air. The bladder is then inflated to regulation sizing, typically between 12.5 and 13.5 PSI.
Once completed, each ball undergoes rigorous quality control testing to ensure it meets the exact NFL standards. It’s estimated that from the tanning to the final inspection, more than 130 people have worked on a single ball. After this, the balls are shipped to teams directly from the Ada factory.
How Footballs Are Prepared for Match Day
The preparation process of “Duke” NFL footballs doesn’t end at the factory, proving that the answer to “How are NFL footballs made?” is complex. After teams receive the balls, equipment staff condition the leather via numerous methods such as brushing to remove excess dye and roughing it up to improve the texture.
Balls are inflated to meet the precise pressure standards of the league’s regulations, then they’re broken in by hand or specialized machines to achieve the preferred feel. There may also be additional conditioning depending on the weather, with colder games requiring extra work to maintain the leather’s flexibility.
Teams prepare up to 36 balls for each game depending on whether they’re indoor or outdoor, and then each is inspected by the referee before it can be played with. So next time you bet on a live game at the best NFL sportsbooks, take into consideration just how much work went into preparing the ball alone!
The Science of NFL Football Ball Design
Despite the fact that the NFL football’s weight and dimensions were standardized in the 1950s, the balls represent decades of precise aerodynamic engineering. The ball’s pointed ends reduce air resistance, while the elongated middle section ensures stability through flight. Its overall prolate spheroid shape was optimized to improve player control for kicking and throwing.
As for the leather football material fabric, its pebbled texture not only helps grip but also its aerodynamics. The indentations help create microturbulence in the airflow around the ball, reducing drag and maintaining a stable spiral. The laces are also placed asymmetrically to help quarterbacks throw specific rotations.
The standardized dimensions are also optimized to achieve maximum distance and accuracy, while the weight helps to build momentum in flight while being balanced for precise handling. Through rigorous construction methods and testing, NFL balls follow strict scientific procedures to guarantee consistency on game day.
Differences in Pro vs. Consumer Balls
While all official Wilson footballs are made at the Ada factory in Ohio, there are differences between the balls sold to consumers and those used by professionals. The most fundamental difference in how a football is made for consumers is the materials, with consumer balls using composite leather rather than premium cowhide leather.
The balls also don’t undergo the same level of quality control and testing as required for professional NFL games, so the accuracy and aerodynamics of consumer balls are less refined. There is also more automation of processes, such as stitching. That said, WIlson’s consumer balls are still sufficient for the needs of recreational players and are manufactured to high standards.
Variations of the Ball for College Football
So, how are footballs made for lower-tier competitions such as college sports? The NCAA is less specific about who can manufacture balls for college games, with teams able to source balls from companies such as Spalding, Nike, and Under Armour. These are produced in factories in the USA and internationally.
Although similar in design to NFL balls, college footballs are slightly smaller. NFL footballs are 11 to 11.25 inches long with a circumference of 28 to 28.5 inches. College balls, on the other hand, are between 10.5 inches long and have a circumference of between 27 and 28.5 inches.
Despite these differences, both weigh between 14 and 15 ounces and are inflated to 12.5 to 13.5 PSI. As for high school football games, the balls tend to vary much more in size and manufacture, and can depend on the school’s budget.
The Future of the NFL Football
Despite decades of tradition, the answer to “What is a football made of?” may not always remain the same. Since 2017, RFID sensors have been integrated into the balls through microchips for tracking ball movement. However, an argument has been made to enhance their technical capabilities to track velocity, rotation, and trajectory, among other factors.
This data could not only improve the refereeing and audience experience, but it could provide valuable data to teams in improving player performance. Another advancement could see manufacturing processes adjusted with environmental considerations in mind through sustainable sourcing of leather and biodegradable synthetics incorporated. How a football is made in the future could be quite different from what it is today.