7 Football Trips for Fans

The College Football Hall of Fame sits in the heart of downtown Atlanta. At about 95,000 square feet, the hall houses a 45-yard indoor football field, more than 50 interactive exhibits, five themed galleries, a three-story helmet wall featuring more than 750 college football helmets, and an ultra-high-definition Game Day Theater. The Hall of Fame was created in 1951 by the National Football Foundation to immortalize great college football players and coaches. The designation is prestigious: Only 0.02 percent of college football players and coaches have been inducted in the Hall of Fame since its founding. View hotels in Atlanta, Georgia.

You don’t have to be a fan of the Pittsburgh Steelers to enjoy the Western Pennsylvania Sports Museum at the Senator John Heinz History Center in Pittsburgh’s historic Strip District. Fans can try on a Super Bowl ring; relive the Immaculate Reception, one of the most famous plays in NFL history; and learn about Myron Cope’s Terrible Towel. Western Pennsylvania has a long and proud football legacy. The museum shows how this region became a hotbed for high school and college football, producing nearly 50 professional quarterbacks, dozens of All-Americans and four Heisman Trophy winners. You’ll also learn about professional women’s football, including artifacts from the Pittsburgh Powderkegs and Pittsburgh Passion women’s football teams. View hotels in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

Since 1941, every NFL game ball has been produced by Wilson Sporting Goods, and since 1955, all of those footballs have been made in the Wilson Football Factory in Ada, Ohio. This location, an 80-mile drive northwest of Columbus, Ohio, produces 4,000 leather balls a day—amounting to more than 700,000 a year.   The Wilson Football Factory is the only football-specific production facility in the world. In fact, the NFL is the only major sports league to have its balls manufactured in the U.S. More remarkable? The process is done by hand—footballs are cut, sewn, steamed and laced by 120 employees. Tours are offered only once per week; dates and times vary. View hotels in Ada, Ohio.

See how football helmets are made at the nearly 350,000-square-foot Riddell manufacturing and reconditioning plant in North Ridgeville, Ohio, just an hour’s drive from Akron. The tour also teaches fans about the history of helmets and how they’ve technologically evolved over the years. Riddell makes helmets for each NFL team, as well as for colleges, high schools and youth leagues. Inside the facility, a helmet wall features designs from all 32 NFL teams. Workers assemble football helmets and custom shoulder pads, as well as provide equipment reconditioning and team laundry services. (Note: Tours of the facility have to be scheduled two days in advance.)  View hotels in North Ridgeville, Ohio.

The American Whistle Corporation is the only manufacturer of metal whistles in the U.S. and since 1994 has created personalized, gold-plated commemorative whistles for Super Bowl officials. Here, you can take a guided 45-minute tour of the factory, a suburb of Columbus, and learn interesting information about whistles and machinery, some of it state-of-the-art and some of it dating back to the origins of the company. You’ll even leave the tour with a shiny new American Classic whistle.  View hotels in Worthington, Ohio.

Located in Mount Olivet Cemetery, about an hour south of New York, is the gravesite of Vincent Lombardi, who coached the Green Bay Packers from 1959 to 1967. The football legend won the first two Super Bowls and finished with an overall career record of 105-35-6; many consider him the greatest coach in the history of the NFL. In college, Lombardi was also a member of Fordham University’s famous Seven Blocks of Granite, the nickname given to school’s 1936 famous offensive line. Although he died in 1970, his legacy lives on: The trophy given to the winner of the Super Bowl is named in his honor. And according to Sports Illustrated, many die-hard fans think making the trip is good luck for their team.  View hotels in Middletown, New Jersey.