With the Super Bowl just around the corner, it seems appropriate to think about who, exactly, helps make this yearly slug-fest possible. I'm not talking about the sponsors, or even the devoted fans. And I'm not talking about the players. I'm talking about some real animals.
Here's what got me thinking about animals and football:
At a recent meeting of my daughter's Girl Scout troop, one of the moms brought a snack of string cheese and goldfish crackers. As the girls laughed and threw crackers in each other's hair I fiddled with one of the cheese wrappers, from a Precious® Stringsters®. Each wrapper had a trivia question printed on the outside, with the answer inside, hidden under the cheese. I read one to the girls, and then they all began shouting out their questions. Many of the questions were animal-related. We had, for example, "What is a pig's gruntle?" and "What does a cat with vibrissae have?"
Then someone read this question: "How many cows does it take to supply the NFL with enough leather for a year's supply of footballs?"
"Three?" someone guessed. Nope. "Eighteen?" Nope. "One hundred?" Nope. We were stumped. The answer? 3,000. I was shocked and horrified. I had no idea.
I began feeling confused. I thought that footballs were made from a pig's skin, and that this is why, in order to be law-abiding, people of The Book really shouldn't play with footballs. Touching the skin of a dead pig makes you unclean, according to the eleventh chapter of Leviticus. (You might be surprised to know that most leather-covered Bibles are actually made with pig skin... I'm just saying.)
So, here are my modern day questions: why are footballs called "pigskins" if they are really made from cows? Can vegans play football? And can anyone, in good conscience, watch NFL football, including the Super Bowl, knowing full well that 3,000 cows have lost their skin each season?
I've done a bit of research on animal skin and footballs and here is what I've found. Footballs are sometimes called "pigskins" because in olden days the balls were made with whatever crude materials were at hand, which often included a pig's bladder. Modern footballs are now made exclusively with cow skin (a.k.a. "leather"). Professional and collegiate football teams are required to use the regulation real leather balls, but recreational and kids' teams mostly use synthetic balls. I could not find any confirmation of the "3,000 cow skins per NFL season" claim made by Precious® Stringsters®, but if anything, the number appears a bit low. Data collected by David Gassko and Ian Stanczyk for the website Book of Odds sheds a bit of light. They estimate that one cow hide can produce approximately 20 footballs. Wilson Sporting Goods®, official supplier to the NFL, manufactures about 700,000 regulation footballs a year, requiring about 35,000 cow hides. NFL teams use about 11,520 footballs every regular season, just for games (not practices). 450 balls are used during the playoffs, and 76 balls are provided for each Super Bowl. Sounds like a lot more than 3,000 cows.
Unfortunately, football is not the only sport with a skin problem. Other sports that vegans might find morally vexing, based on typical ball-composition, include baseball, basketball, soccer, cricket, and volleyball. Which leaves us with bowling, golf, and ping pong. It is a sad day for vegans.
When I asked my Girl Scout co-leader what she thought about the ethics of 3,000 cow-skin footballs, she offered this reply: "Well, the cows are probably slaughtered for their meat. Maybe it is good to use the skin, so it doesn't go to waste." To which I have to wonder, would you rather be slaughtered and have all parts of you put to good use, or would you rather be spared the slaughter in the first place? Maybe we shouldn't worry so much about footballs—which, when you put it in perspective, are really just a drop in the bucket—and should think instead about the hamburgers being sold at the stadium concession stands and during Super Bowl parties around the country.
I'm not suggesting that people stop enjoying the Super Bowl (though honestly, I find the game barbaric, given the incidence of brain injury). But we might give some thought to where those NFL footballs come from. We should give an extra cheer in honor of those cows who have some real skin in the game (and maybe take a pass on the cheeseburger).
