The Chargers are under NFL investigation for possibly violating the league's policy against using Stickum or similar foreign, grip-enhancing substances, but Idaho-based towel company Gorilla Gold President Patrick Dugan estimated that, at “one point years ago, about 70 percent of NFL teams used the company's towel,” according to Michael Gehlken of the SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE. The Gorilla Gold towel “emits a wax-based material that carries a tackifying element similar to a glove, repelling moisture and improving grip.” Dugan said that the material “has been determined in an NCAA lab … not to rub off on footballs.” A Chargers spokesperson, "citing the NFL investigation being a league matter, was unable to confirm Tuesday that Gorilla Gold towels are the ones in question.” Dugan said, "We would believe that every team at one point over the last 10 years since we introduced this product ... has probably had this or does have this.” Dugan "did not specify the number of teams that currently use Gorilla Gold towels.” However, he indicated that because Gorilla Gold’s presence in the NFL “is nothing new and, by some measures, prevalent, the investigation ‘seems odd to us.’” Dugan: "It's a shame it's a controversy. Maybe it will be resolved" (SAN DIEGO UNION-TRIBUNE, 10/24).
