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RJ Young
FOX Sports National College Football Analyst
The United Football League released its new ball on Thursday afternoon with a familiar provider: Big Game Football Factory.
Big Game, a company based in Dallas, provided footballs for the XFL and USFL in each of the last two years. Big Game founder Chris Calandro has specialized in creating hand-crafted, custom footballs for high school football, college football and professional leagues for 31 years. That list includes 11 national title teams.
Big Game’s relationship with the UFL began with vice president of football operations Daryl Johnston and Calandro already sharing a relationship. Each of them has a vested interest in the game as fans first who care about the game.
“We’re both into the game and the details of the game,” Calandro told FOX Sports, “and with this, through football, we can contribute to that.”
Big Game employs 55 employees to assemble each ball they’re commissioned to create, taking pains to make a football that is not just sturdy and resilient but that players love to throw, carry, catch and kick. Big Game is an American company making its footballs from materials in the U.S.
When folks ask Big Game where they get their leather, their reply is as pithy as it is true: “Cows, born and bred in the USA.”
The factory in Dallas operates like a luxury boutique brand, hence the $149.99 price tag for an official UFL ball, but with that comes not just the quality football but an attention to specifics that football people have come to crave and use for celebrations — like commemorating Oklahoma’s 34-30 win against Texas last season. (The ball sold out.)
While Big Game keeps most of its innovations private, I asked Calandro to give me one example of taking a player’s desire and incorporating it into the football’s Big Game makes today.
“Let’s talk about kickers for a second,” he said. “They’re often disregarded. Quarterbacks get all the love and…
Source link : https://www.foxsports.com/stories/ufl/how-players-like-brandon-aubrey-helped-develop-ufls-new-ball
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Publish date : 2024-02-15 13:30:52
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