From inflated pig bladders in the 1800’s—why leather footballs are sometimes still called “pigskins”—to cowskin footballs today, it’s time for the National Football League (NFL) and Canadian Football League (CFL) to modernize and go animal-free. PETA undercover investigators filmed inside an Ohio slaughterhouse where workers kill, dismember, and skin cows to supply a tannery that provides cowskin leather to make the official NFL and CFL leather footballs produced by Wilson Sporting Goods.

PETA undercover investigators filmed cows watching their herd mates being shot in front of them by a captive bolt gun. The frightened animals then had to see, hear, and smell their friends have their throats slashed and heads cut off, before being killed themselves.

“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

Inside Rodabaugh Bros. Meats, frightened cows are unable to avoid seeing, hearing, and smelling their herd mates being killed and dismembered right in front of them before being killed themselves. A slaughterer uses a captive bolt gun to deliver a concussive blow, cuts their throats, bleeds them out, and cuts their heads off. PETA’s undercover investigators filmed a cow watching a worker shooting another cow in the head in front of her, a cow trying to escape the kill pen, and another who watched wide-eyed for over nine minutes as a worker hung a cow up by her feet, sawed off her legs, and skinned her just a few feet away. 

Cows are sensitive individuals who live in complex social groups and mourn when a loved one dies or when separated from each other. In the meat and leather industries, thousands of cows often are confined to crowded, filthy sheds and feedlots. Workers burn their skin with hot irons and slice off their tails without pain relief. The workers then slit their throats when, according to USDA inspectors, some of them are still conscious. Then, their skin and flesh are turned into footballs and burgers.

Wilson makes around 700,000 leather footballs per year. One cow’s skin makes about 10 footballs, meaning that at least 70,000 cows are killed annually in the production of Wilson footballs.

We urge the NFL and CFL to start working right away with Wilson on the development of a prime-quality synthetic or plant leather football that meets or exceeds the standards of performance and consistency of the cowskin ball. Wilson already manufactures a variety of synthetic footballs for different levels of play. Even the current NFL cow leather football already has several “artificial” features, including the pebbled texture for grip, the dyed color, the polyurethane bladder, polyester thread, and the PVC laces. So the ‘natural” cow leather ball is really a myth. Making leather is an extremely unnatural process—halting decomposition through chemical baths and dehydration, which involves formaldehyde, coal-tar derivatives, and various oils, dyes, and finishes—some of which are cyanide-based. And, of course, leather made from cows’ skin isn’t biodegradable and contributes far more to water pollution and greenhouse gas emissions like methane than any synthetic or plant-based vegan leather.

We applaud NFL players such as Tyrann Mathieu and the CFL’s  Most Outstanding Player, Brady Oliveira, who have promoted animal protection as an important value in the community. Converting to a synthetic football would be another major step forward for the NFL’s image by demonstrating a non-violent, animal-friendly solution.

In 2025, with growing awareness that our fellow animals can feel joy, fear, pain, and love, this is the time.