Balls are shipped out based on orders by the NFL and sporting chains needs, including shipments to individuals who can order footballs directly from the factory in Ada, Ohio. The balls are shipped by truck to the more local teams around the Ohio area, but must be shipped by plane to the teams from further away.
The 32 teams in the NFL are spread across the country so Wilson must work hard to meet the demands of all the teams even from a long distance.
During the playoff time when teams are being eliminated, Wilson employees work through the night to ship game balls to the teams within 24 hours of NFC and AFC championship games (wilson.com). This is because the balls need to have the special symbol on the leather to indicate the game.
Wilson also disperses their factory made balls to sporting goods stores and to individual consumers. In addition to this 26 different states have chosen Wilson to be their official high school football (Wilson.com). So every week Wilson must ship balls to the high school athletic association of these states come playoff time.
Photo: City Data