NewsCenter 7’s John Bedell is inside the Wilson Sporting Goods factory in Ada today for a story about where the footballs for Super Bowl 50 were made.
The footballs were shipped to Santa Clara, Calif., earlier this week, and each team — the Carolina Panthers and Denver Broncos — received 108 footballs.
The plant employs 140 people, and it produces between 3,000 to 4,000 footballs every day for pee wee leagues all the way up to the NFL, according to Dan Riegle, plant manager of the Wilson Sporting Goods Football Factory.
Wilson has made footballs for every Super Bowl.
“Our finest moment every year is when they kick off the Super Bowl,” Riegle said. “It’s the biggest sporting event in the world every year. And that ball came from Ada, Ohio, and was made by these people. It doesn’t get any better than that. … We’re very proud of what we do.”
Ada is located in Hardin County and has a population of close to 6,000 people.
“If you live here, you know what we do,” Riegle said. “It makes us proud. It puts us on the map every year.”
Wilson will begin making championship footballs on the Monday after the Super Bowl.
WHIO-TV, Ch. 7, is home to Super Bowl 50, scheduled for Feb. 7 in Santa Clara, Calif.
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