NFL Exposed! Cows Suffer and Die for Wilson Leather Footballs

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When you watch the NFL, you should expect to see a thrilling game free of exploitation—but if you knew how they make NFL footballs, you’d change the channel and never look back.

PETA undercover investigators filmed inside Ohio slaughterhouse Rodabaugh Bros. Meats, where workers kill, dismember, and skin cows for the leather used to make the official NFL leather footballs produced by Wilson Sporting Goods.

“I was a loan officer at a bank before we bought this. I used to have a good job with benefits, but now I get to kill things.”
–Rodabaugh Bros. Meats Owner to PETA’s Investigators

The terrified cows are forced to see, hear, and smell their friends being killed and dismembered right in front of them before being killed themselves. A slaughterer blasts them with a captive bolt gun, cuts their throats, bleeds them out, and cuts their heads off. PETA’s undercover investigators filmed a cow trying to escape the kill pen and another who watched for over nine minutes as a worker hung a cow up by her feet, sawed off her legs, and skinned her. 😰 How tf can we enjoy the NFL knowing that players are tossing dead cows’ skin around?

Cows are sensitive individuals who live in complex social groups and mourn when a loved one dies or when separated from each other. They don’t deserve to suffer for sports—yet workers in the leather industry burn them with hot irons, slice off their tails without pain relief, and turn their skin into footballs.

Prepare to be even more shook: Wilson makes around 700,000 leather footballs annually and supplies about 27,000 to NFL teams each season (and thousands more for retail sales). One cow’s skin makes about 10 footballs, so at least 2,700 cows are killed annually for NFL footballs. 😲

This mass slaughter isn’t just cruel—it’s also pointless. Wilson already makes several synthetic footballs that are compassionate to animals and contribute way less to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions than leather made from cows’ skin. The NFL needs to start working with Wilson ASAP to develop a prime-quality synthetic football that’s as good as or better than a cowskin football performance-wise.

Join PETA in urging the NFL Competition Committee to kick leather out of the stadium and convert to synthetic footballs. 🏈

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Kick leather and convert to synthetic footballs

I was horrified and heartbroken to watch cows at a slaughterhouse that supplies leather to Wilson to make the official NFL and CFL cowskin footballs. These cows are forced to see, hear, and smell their herd mates being killed, dismembered, and skinned right in front of them before they are killed too by a captive bolt gun that delivers a fatal concussion. Cows are sensitive animals who forge strong relationships with one another and grieve when they are separated.

Thankfully, there are strong, synthetic, and plant-based leather materials Wilson could use—and the NFL and CFL can kick off the 2027 season with compassion instead of supporting the sad and disturbing practices shown in PETA’s undercover footage.

I urge you to carefully consider PETA’s evidence and replace cowskin footballs with synthetic ones.

Thank you for your time and attention to this urgent matter.

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nugget

hey, you could get peta2 points for this!

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