More than 100 footballs will be used in the upcoming Super Bowl game, and to protect against possible counterfeiting every one of them will be “tagged” with a specially-prepared synthetic DNA ink that leaves an invisible-to-the-naked-eye security mark. The sideline pylons and even the coin used for the coin toss will be marked, too. For the 12th consecutive year, the National Football League will use the world’s largest sports memorabilia authentication company, PSA/DNA Authentication Services of Santa Ana, California, to certify all footballs used in the Super Bowl. A PSA/DNA representative will mark each ball with a synthetic DNA (deoxyribonucleic acid) strand that can be seen only when illuminated by a specific laser frequency. “The DNA ink has an astronomical 1-in-33 trillion chance of being accurately reproduced by counterfeiters,” said Joe Orlando, President of PSA/DNA, a division of Collectors Universe, Inc. Read more here.
