'Made in America' Tackles the Super Bowl

Feb. 3, 2012 -- The Super Bowl is the biggest event in American sports, but how much of what we see on the field is actually made in America?

It turns out made in America products are well represented. From the turf to the trophy, the jerseys to the footballs, American-made goods will play a starring role at Super Bowl XLVI in Indianapolis.

The Coin Flip

For The Highland Mint in Melbourne, Fla., the coin flip has become the most exciting part of the Super Bowl since the company started manufacturing the coin for it in 1994.

The company, which has more than 100 employees, sculpts the coin by hand and manufactures it at its Florida facility.

"We believe in made in America. We don't see any reason why Americans can't compete with the overseas companies," said Michael Kott, president of The Highland Mint. "Not only are our products made in the United States, all our raw materials come from the United States."

The first 100 coins the company produces go to the NFL and Highland sells an additional 10,000 as commemorative replicas.

The Field

When the coin is flipped on Sunday, it will land on artificial turf made in Calhoun, Ga., by FieldTurf. The 16-year-old company, with 500 employees in North America, has installed more than 4,000 fields in U.S.

"In Calhoun at our facility, the turf is tufted into a backing material, and from there that turf product is then shipped to the site, where it is assembled by one of our installation crews using crumb rubber, which comes from car tires, which are car tires that have been used by American cars and recycled at American manufacturers, and by silica sand which comes from American mines and is installed by our American installation crews," said Darren Gill, vice president of global marketing for FieldTurf.

The Jerseys and Helmets

Once the coin toss is complete, the teams will take the field wearing jerseys and helmets that are primarily made or assembled in America.

Although both teams will be wearing Reebok uniforms, the Giants uniforms are manufactured by Tefron an Israeli company, while the Patriots will be wearing uniforms produced by Ripon Athletics of Berlin, Wis.

Ripon makes jerseys for 25 of the NFL's 32 teams and employs 160 people, who manufacture the jerseys to the specification of each individual player. Nike will provide the jerseys next year for the NFL and Ripon said the new contract means it will be hiring.

"We're a family-owned business and we're behind the made-in-USA push," Ripon COO, Erik Derleth, told ABC News.

When it comes to the helmets, each player can choose the brand they wear. Even with the choice, Riddell expects 65 to 70 percent of the players in the Super Bowl to be wearing their helmets.

The helmets are made using a majority of U.S.-sourced parts and are assembled at Riddell's facility in Elyria, Ohio. If a player isn't wearing a Riddell helmet, it is likely they have on a Schutt's helmet. Schutt said it supplies helmets for approximately 30 percent of players in the NFL and assembles them in Salem, Ill., using a majority of components, including helmet shells and face masks, that are made in America.

The Football

As the kicker places the ball on the tee for the opening kickoff, he'll be positioning a ball made in Ada, Ohio, by Wilson. Wilson said that every ball that has been used in a Super Bowl has been made by hand at the Wilson Football Factory.

According to the company, the 120 employees at the factory in Ada produce more than 700,000 footballs per year and average more than 23 years of experience.

The Trophy

Wilson's footballs are used in every game on the road to the ultimate prize in professional football, the Lombardi Trophy. The iconic trophy, which is hoisted by the champions at end of the game, has been made in Parsippany, N.J. by Tiffany & Co. since the first Super Bowl in 1967.

The original concept for the trophy was sketched on a cocktail napkin by Tiffany's Vice President Oscar Riedener during a meeting with then-NFL commissioner Pete Rozelle. The design has remained the same ever since.

The 22-inch, seven-pound trophy takes about four months to complete and is made in a silversmiths shop on Tiffany's campus in Parsippany that employees 25 people. The overall facility employs about 1,000 people and the company as a whole employs 8,500 people worldwide. Approximately 75 to 80 percent of all of Tiffany's employees are in the U.S.

"We [Tiffany employees] all watch the game with the same perspective, which is at the end when that celebration is taking place and the winning team is handed the trophy -- that's when we all feel that real sense of pride. In some small way, Tiffany is out there helping that team celebrate," said Tom O'Rourke, vice president of business sales for Tiffany. "Tiffany is a part of celebrating important moments and so for us I couldn't think of a more important celebration in sports than the championship moment when the winner is given the trophy."

The silversmith shop in Parsippany also makes championship trophies for the National Basketball Association and Major League Baseball.

"We're really proud of the fact that we are keeping what really amounts to a dying art form, we're keeping it alive and we're keeping it alive here in the United States in our shop and we're employing American workers to build America's championship trophies," O'Rourke told ABC News. "We have really focused our efforts on the manufacturing side of the employee population and keeping those manufacturing jobs here in the U.S."

No matter who wins on Sunday, American-made products will have played a vital role in making them champions.