“....NFL-quality football at a retail price of less than $20...”
I was talking about backyard football which is the market we’ve abandoned. Footballs at Walmart go for around $10 but at Academy Sports they carry the NFL Wilson ball which is probably a good buy even at the higher price. It seem one of the manufacturers would try to compete by marketing a USA manufactured product closer to the range of the backyard boys even though it would be no NFL Gameday.
It would be tough to produce a decent backyard football in the US for $10. I wonder if there is a market for a Made in the USA football in the $30-40 range that uses synthetic leather but good quality stitching and laces? I have a synthetic leather basketball that is almost indistinguishable from the real (i.e., leather) thing.