what to look for in a game used football?

[yankees24]

thanks everyone for your helpful information, what about the ones on Ebay - some have the team stamp engraving on the panel but I don't notice any of the referee markings. are those balls legit?

[cohibasmoker]

thanks everyone for your helpful information, what about the ones on Ebay - some have the team stamp engraving on the panel but I don't notice any of the referee markings. are those balls legit?

So far, I have gotten 30-40 Wilson gameballs just this year. Some have markings while some do not. I am confident that my footalls are all OK. I think the mininum requirement is the ball should at least have the laser-printing of the team name on the panel under the NFL shield. What individual teams and/or refs do or don't do can vary from team to team and ref to ref.

My point is, someone can take a marker and mark a football and say a ref did it. But, so far and I don't think anyone is out there laser-printing team names on footballs.

Have you asked the seller where he got his football from? That's always a good thing to do.

Hope this helps,

Jim

[cohibasmoker]

Barry Meisel is correct when he says that each referee has a specific mark that they put on the football. The referee for this last Rams home game was Terry McCauly and he puts his #77 on one of the panels. I've seen some refs color a lace with black sharpie and others have stamps like anchors or stars. Larry Nemers, Walt alston? use very nice initials and Mike Carey puts a sloppy MC on the football.

The game balls are brought in by each team and the referee checks them before each game. Each team supplies 24 (I believe) balls for each game. There used to be only 24 game balls supplied by the home team until 2006. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady complained that they didn't like the footballs that were supplied during away games so the league came up with the rule that each team could supply their own balls and the refs would check them. The best balls are the ones that have multiple refs markings on them. I have several that are like this. Just got a Bears ball that was used during the last play of the Rams/Bears game.

The kicking balls are a whole different story. The naturally have the K stamp on them and are marked as well. These balls however are specifically made for the game they are supplied for. There are 12 K balls used and they now have the game week # followed by the # 1-12 ball. These are heavily guarded by a sideline official wearing a maroon polo. This whole system came about as a result of the Tony Romo fumbled snap during the Seahawk playoff game. The ball boys from the Seahawks (IMO) gave the Cowboys a brand new, never "worked up" kicking ball for the last play of the game. The ploy worked perfectly as the ball slipped thru Romo's hands and the Seahawks won the game. The ball boys usually get to work up 2 kicking balls per game and the other 10 are never touched. I have seen ball boys try and retrieve K balls that go into the stands because the kickers and punters want to use that ball all game. I have seen opposing kickers and punters yelling at ball boys about the balls that they are putting into play.

Be very careful when you buy game balls if you expect to see a bunch of use. Each team only really "uses" 10 balls per game although they have 24 game issued. And like I stated before, only about 2 K balls are "used" per game even though 12 are issued.

I just sold a 2004 kickoff weekend ($138), 2006 kickoff weekend ($200), and a 2007 kickoff weekend ($133) on ebay. I currently have a Cardinals and a Bears ball from this year. If you have any interest please post your email address here and I will contact you with details.

KJ, terrific information. My information is the same as yours with some minor tweaking. I was told that only 12 footballs are used per team per game. Each team can bring their own footballs. Each team uses their own team (laser-printed) footballs ONLY on offensive plays. My info is over a year old and this may have been changed and or updated since I got the info.

The home team supplies the "K" footballs and only 12 of those are used per game. The word I got is, the "K" footballs are shipped seperately to the teams and must be stored seperately from the other footballs. No player, except on the field of play, can handle the "K" footballs once the footballs have been approved by the referee.

Speaking of "K" footballs, that's a terrific ROMO story. I's like to add that I was told the "K" football was developed because kickers and punters were always messing with the footballs. A few years ago, one kicker was caught actually soaking a football in water then putting it inside a drier that was located inside the home team locker-room. The kickers would sit on them, either take air or or over-inflate a ball and basically do whatever they could to soften a football up so the ball would travel further.

As for use on a football, we are both in agreement. None of the footballs I've gotten have any significant use on it EXCEPT the Tagliabue footballs. My thoughts are, since they were used in pre-season ONLY, when the new Goodells came out for the regular season, the Tagliabue were sent to the practice field. Make sense?

Great info sharing.

Jim

flaa1a@comcast.net

[costas]

I just sold a 2004 kickoff weekend ($138), 2006 kickoff weekend ($200), and a 2007 kickoff weekend ($133) on ebay. I currently have a Cardinals and a Bears ball from this year. If you have any interest please post your email address here and I will contact you with details.

Hi kj33706, do you have other teams/events available at this moment? thanks.

[cohibasmoker]

Barry Meisel is correct when he says that each referee has a specific mark that they put on the football. The referee for this last Rams home game was Terry McCauly and he puts his #77 on one of the panels. I've seen some refs color a lace with black sharpie and others have stamps like anchors or stars. Larry Nemers, Walt alston? use very nice initials and Mike Carey puts a sloppy MC on the football.

The game balls are brought in by each team and the referee checks them before each game. Each team supplies 24 (I believe) balls for each game. There used to be only 24 game balls supplied by the home team until 2006. Peyton Manning and Tom Brady complained that they didn't like the footballs that were supplied during away games so the league came up with the rule that each team could supply their own balls and the refs would check them. The best balls are the ones that have multiple refs markings on them. I have several that are like this. Just got a Bears ball that was used during the last play of the Rams/Bears game.

The kicking balls are a whole different story. The naturally have the K stamp on them and are marked as well. These balls however are specifically made for the game they are supplied for. There are 12 K balls used and they now have the game week # followed by the # 1-12 ball. These are heavily guarded by a sideline official wearing a maroon polo. This whole system came about as a result of the Tony Romo fumbled snap during the Seahawk playoff game. The ball boys from the Seahawks (IMO) gave the Cowboys a brand new, never "worked up" kicking ball for the last play of the game. The ploy worked perfectly as the ball slipped thru Romo's hands and the Seahawks won the game. The ball boys usually get to work up 2 kicking balls per game and the other 10 are never touched. I have seen ball boys try and retrieve K balls that go into the stands because the kickers and punters want to use that ball all game. I have seen opposing kickers and punters yelling at ball boys about the balls that they are putting into play.

Be very careful when you buy game balls if you expect to see a bunch of use. Each team only really "uses" 10 balls per game although they have 24 game issued. And like I stated before, only about 2 K balls are "used" per game even though 12 are issued.

I just sold a 2004 kickoff weekend ($138), 2006 kickoff weekend ($200), and a 2007 kickoff weekend ($133) on ebay. I currently have a Cardinals and a Bears ball from this year. If you have any interest please post your email address here and I will contact you with details.

KJ - send me the info at flaa1a@comcast.net Thanks

[yankees24]

Hi Yankees 24,

There is something else to look for, something the Eagles told us when we marketed their game-used footballs.

Each NFL referee has a small personal marking that he uses to mark the footballs for games his crew works. It could be as simple as an initial, or something unusual. But you should look for a mark on the ball that appears as if a person is trying to personally identify the ball.

Hope this helps,

Barry Meisel, MeiGray

thank you mr. Meisel - I was just looking at some of the Eagles footballs available through Meigray, do the accompanying Letters of Authenticity state the score of the game as well? thanks.

[skinsfan0521]

Hi, I know that I'm reviving a thread that's like 8 months old, but I just found something interesting and thought I'd share it.

I have an NFL Extra Points credit card that you can use the points earned for memorabilia, tickets, merchandise, etc. Well, I was just looking on the redemption site for these points today and saw that I could order(w/my points) a game ball w/team name laser engraved on the ball. These are NOT game used balls, but they are the exact same as the game used balls.

In addition to these laser engraved team name balls, there's also the ability to order the SB 42 ball w/an NFL logo laser engraved. I'm not 100% sure what the details are of the SB ball, because I'm not sure what exactly the real game balls have on them. Do they have the team names? Do they have the NFL Logo? I don't know.

Below are the descriptions and photos of these balls available through the NFL Extra Points redemption program:

Picture 1: "Official game ball of the NFL. Exclusive Wilson® leather with deeper pebble and firmer texture features NFL team logo lasered onto the ball. Specify team."

Picture 2: "Super Bowl XLII Game Ball with NFL® Laser Logo. Exclusive Wilson® leather with deeper pebble and firmer texture features super bowl logo."

I'm just wondering about the validity of many game used balls that are out there now. I was under the impression that the ONLY way to get a laser engraved ball was if it was a game used (or at least issued) ball, but that is obviously not the case.

Any opinions on this??

Thanks!

-Brian

[cohibasmoker]

Hi, I know that I'm reviving a thread that's like 8 months old, but I just found something interesting and thought I'd share it.

I have an NFL Extra Points credit card that you can use the points earned for memorabilia, tickets, merchandise, etc. Well, I was just looking on the redemption site for these points today and saw that I could order(w/my points) a game ball w/team name laser engraved on the ball. These are NOT game used balls, but they are the exact same as the game used balls.

In addition to these laser engraved team name balls, there's also the ability to order the SB 42 ball w/an NFL logo laser engraved. I'm not 100% sure what the details are of the SB ball, because I'm not sure what exactly the real game balls have on them. Do they have the team names? Do they have the NFL Logo? I don't know.

Below are the descriptions and photos of these balls available through the NFL Extra Points redemption program:

Picture 1: "Official game ball of the NFL. Exclusive Wilson® leather with deeper pebble and firmer texture features NFL team logo lasered onto the ball. Specify team."

Picture 2: "Super Bowl XLII Game Ball with NFL® Laser Logo. Exclusive Wilson® leather with deeper pebble and firmer texture features super bowl logo."

I'm just wondering about the validity of many game used balls that are out there now. I was under the impression that the ONLY way to get a laser engraved ball was if it was a game used (or at least issued) ball, but that is obviously not the case.

Any opinions on this??

Thanks!

-Brian

Brian, as soon as I saw your thread, I went to the NFL website to check it out for myself. My initial reaction was I could NOT believe what I was seeing but after a few minutes, some thoughts started to pop into my head.

My first thought was, can these footballs be the exact footballs sent to the teams? The only way to know for sure was to purchase one and physically compare it to the footballs that I own. Since I don’t have a NFL card, I was considering getting the card, acquire the required points and redeem the points for a football. As I read the requirements for the card, this idea was not an option. To get a football, I would need to acquire 13,100 points. Since you got a point for every dollar spent, that football would cost me $13,100 dollars. At that price, maybe I’ll say all of my Dukes came from this program and sell them for half of the NFL price.

Another thought was, - was the NFL willing to start selling the exact footballs that they send to the NFL teams on a Retail Basis? I’ve had people at Wilson and team sources tell me that the NFL and the individual NFL teams are very sensitive to the authenticity of NFL equipment – especially the footballs. A person at Wilson told me, one of the reasons the NFL started putting team names on the authentic footballs was to differentiate authentic footballs from retail footballs. This was done to try and eliminate fraud. Is the NFL reversing it's initial decision? If so, wouldn't the NFL actually be contributing to the possibility of bogus footballs in the marketplace?

I then thought - hey, 13K is a lot of money. Where would the footballs actually come from? If a person did decide to spend 13K for a football, how would the NFL deliver the football? Did the NFL notify Wilson and get a ball printed or, let's say a person wanted a football with "EAGLES" on it. Would the NFL notify the Philadelphia Eagles and have the team ship the football?

My final thoughts are, would the footballs make an impact on the marketplace? At $13,100 dollars per football, I don’t think many people are going to take advantage of the offer. If a person did take advantage of the offer, can they re-sell it on eBay for 13K? I think not. Idea of Availability? I don't like the idea at all but, since we don't have a example of the redemption football or know where the footballs are actually coming from, it's a moot point. As a for example, retail “NFL Authentics” claim to be the exact jersey the players wear but, we all know that isn’t true.

This is a game used forum so everyone's thoughts are welcome. Below is a link to the exact page that the footballs are being offered.


Jim


https://www.rewards-catalog.com/epx/...ch=N&itemdet=Y

[skinsfan0521]

Jim,

Thanks for the detailed response. Those were actually all of my exact thoughts too (except for comparing it to my real game balls... cuz I don't have any. haha), so I'm glad that I wasn't just missing something here.

I do agree that at the 13k+ point total needed to get them, it's unlikely that a lot of them are out there... but, if somebody's got a business selling sports memorabilia or something and they charge everything to their card it sure wouldn't take long to add up to the $13k needed to get one of these. And then turn it around and sell it for a decent amount of money. And it never would've cost you a dime really, cuz you're spending that money anyway. It's not as if somebody is actually spending $13,000 on this ball. They're spending the money in their day to day life and this is one of the "perks" that they could pick as a bonus reward.

But, I do agree that the most worrisome part about me finding this is that it means it's possible to get these "game balls" from other places than actually being game used. No, I don't know anywhere else to get them besides this exorbitant price... but they're out there. That's the scary part. I do know where you're coming from when you say that it's a moot point because we don't know where they're coming from, but I'd be willing to bet that they're not coming from any NFL teams. I'm guessing that the NFL has a batch (say 50??) of each team made up specifically for this program and then distributes them as they get ordered. But, that's obviously just my opinion.

I look forward to hearing more of your opinions and others.

Thanks a lot!

-Brian