In our world of automation and high tech everything, this is pretty cool.

Today, the factory churns out every football used in the NFL and NCAA college football as both leagues' official partners. Creating 700,000 footballs per year, Wilson controls about 70 percent of the market, with the NFL its longest-running and most lucrative partner.

"Since 1941, every point scored in the NFL has been with a Wilson football. We are very proud of that relationship and want that to continue. We try and make the best-quality product in the world for them," said Riegle.

From leather to laces, Wilson's football is 100 percent American-made. The plant's workers don't use high-tech equipment; instead, they use sewing machines from the mid-1900s, and they stitch the footballs' lacings completely by hand.

Many plant workers have been with the company for generations.

 

Now if someone could just inflate them properly.

Sorry, I had to.

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