Berto, Amarillo, TXSubj: Are you ready for some football?
When did the NFL remove the white stripping on the football? Are footballs with the stripping still used?
Superb question, Berto. The NFL originally introduced footballs with white stripes in the late 1950’s in order to make the ball easier to see during night games. Unfortunately, the white paint also made the pigskins more slick and league executives voted to return to the ball’s original design in 1976 after noticing a steady increase in incompletions. Although white stripes are no longer de rigueur in the NFL you can still see featured prominently on the footballs of nearly every other organized league, including the NCAA, the AFL and the CFL.
