I’m not a fan of any particular team, so I’m not familiar with the intricacies of the game.
But, it seems to me, that if this such a big deal, maybe the NFL could spring a few bucks for balls and have an NFL employee or ref do the inflating.
Why leave it up to the teams to bring the balls and inflate them in the first place?
I’ve got a solution though. How about the teams buy their own stadiums from the public at fair market value and, in return, the public will spring for balls and an impartial person to inflate them to spec for each game.
The teams bring the balls to the refs before the game, where they are checked and corrected and remain with the official or locked away until 10 minutes before kick off. At that point, the official delivers them to the ball boys. How they could get deflated in that small window without notice is amazing.
Bingo.