The Cattle on a Thousand Playing Fields

It takes about 35,000 cows to make a year’s supply of regulation NFL footballs. Despite the nickname “pigskin,” today footballs are actually made of leather. Wilson Sporting Goods, official supplier of NFL footballs, says one cowhide produces 15 to 25 footballs. Wilson makes about 700,000 regulation NFL footballs every year.

David Gassko and Ian Stanczyk decided to ask one day, “What are the odds that any given cow will make it into the Super Bowl, via a football?”

Of those 700,000 regulation balls, the NFL uses just 12,000 per year. Meanwhile, one in two adult cattle are slaughtered every year. Of those, the hides of one in 952 will become NFL footballs, of which one in 58 will be used in an NFL game, and about one in 158 of those will be used in the Super Bowl. So what are the odds that a random cow will be in the Super Bowl? About 1-in-17,420,000, or so say Gassko and Stanczyk.

The Psalm says God owns “the cattle on a thousand hills.” In fact, God claims every beast of the forest as well. Not even a sparrow falls to the ground without Him noticing. “Of how much more value are you?” Jesus asked. “Even the hairs on your head are numbered.”

With a God who loves you this much, do you know the odds that you’ll go to heaven and live with Him forever? Accept Him as your personal Savior, and they’re one in one.