In the small Hardin County village of Ada, the play clock begins ticking about two weeks before the first snap of America’s most-watched sporting event.
The Super Bowl, after all, is a particular point of pride in Ada, because the regulation NFL football used for every kickoff, every pass, every point scored — and yes, even every fumble — is handcrafted at the Wilson Sporting Goods Co.’s football factory there.
The clock starts as soon as the NFC and AFC championship games end, deciding which two teams will face off in the Super Bowl. By tradition, a group of Wilson employees gathers at the plant to watch the conference championship games, which this year were scheduled for Jan. 26. As soon as those games end, partially finished balls are stamped with the winning teams’ names and logos, stitched, inflated, and shipped out to arrive in plenty of time for the kickoff.
Last year's partnership announcement between Wilson and the NFL was celebrated with the unveiling of a brand-new, $15 million factory in Ada, which, at 80,000 square feet, is twice the size of the former plant.
“As soon as they know who wins, they are making these balls and they are shipping them out,” says Lindsay Hollar, director of the Ada Area Chamber of Commerce. “The guys just want to get their hands on them.” Hollar doesn’t work for Wilson, but like lots of people in and around town, she speaks with a sort of proprietary pride about the local treasure that is the Wilson football.
Each year, more than 120 employees at the Ada factory make 500,000 footballs, at a pace of about 2,500 each day. “It truly puts Ada on the map,” Hollar says. Ada is probably better known, at least in-state, as the home of Ohio Northern University, and Wilson is certainly not the area’s largest employer, but it’s the Ada-made NFL football that brings nationwide recognition — especially among sports fans, and particularly in February. “They know that since 1955, every football that has been used in the NFL and in a Super Bowl has been handmade by people in our community.”
This year’s Big Game, Super Bowl LIX, is scheduled for Sunday, Feb. 9, at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans. More than 100 million viewers will tune into the game, and all eyes will be on “The Duke,” the name Wilson gives to the game day balls.
That tradition will continue into the future, thanks to a partnership extension announced last year by Wilson and the NFL, a partnership that goes back to 1941. To mark the occasion, Wilson unveiled a brand-new, $15 million factory in Ada, which, at 80,000 square feet, is twice the size of the former plant.
“Renewing and expanding our relationship with a partner so ingrained into our culture is paramount for the league to continue to grow the game,” says Ryan Samuelson, the NFL’s vice president of consumer products. “And the opening of the new football factory is a testament to Wilson’s commitment to NFL football.”
The Ada community is equally invested in this partnership, Hollar says, and celebrates it each year with the Made in Ada Wilson Football Festival. Organized by the chamber in late August, the festival is timed to coincide with the launch of the professional football season. “We have fun, tailgate style,” she says, with music, food, games, and the ceremonial lowering of a giant replica Wilson football — Times Square style — from a crane.
And with Ohio’s two NFL cities, Cleveland and Cincinnati, about equidistant from Ada, the festival sometimes features visits from team “superfans” like Cleveland’s Gus “Pumpkinhead” Angelone and the “Bengals Captain,” Jeremy Conley.
The multiyear NFL partnership extension and the new factory are significant victories for Ada. Village officials confirm that for a while, Wilson considered other locations for the new factory. The village offered some incentives, including some road improvements, to keep it in Ada, says Jamie Hall, the village administrator. But he credits Wilson’s employees, most of whom are local and have been making footballs for decades, for the company’s decision to stay put.
“The decision for staying in Ada was pretty much the existing workforce they had in Ada and the relationship they had with the community,” Hall says.
With the new football factory, the company resumed tours, which had been interrupted by the pandemic. There is a gift shop in the new space, along with some historic exhibits. Hollar hopes these new features will bring more visitors to the town and trigger additional economic development.
“It’s really kind of brought a new life to downtown Ada,” she says. “Our hope is that if you’re coming to a tour at Wilson, you’ll come visit our downtown, stop at a restaurant, or visit the downtown bars.”
Hall says the connection to Wilson and the NFL is key to the town’s future. “When I am out traveling, it only takes about two or three sentences before I mention I’m from Ada and that’s where they make all the footballs for the NFL. That really helps a lot in terms of opening doors.”
