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Show Your Team Spirit With NFL-Edition Surface Pro Type Covers

Choose from all 32 AFC and NFC teams.

 & Stephanie Mlot Contributor

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Kick off the NFL regular season next month with a Microsoft Surface Special Edition NFL Type Cover.

Officially licensed by the National Football League, the $159.99 case attaches magnetically to your Surface Pro 3 or Pro 4, with a QWERTY keyboard, full row of function keys (F1 through F12), and dedicated buttons for Windows shortcuts, media, controls, screen brightness, and right-click.

Representing all 32 teams in the American and National Football Conference (AFC and NFC), each accessory comes with the squad's logo on the front; a miniature version of the emblem appears in the corner, near the Microsoft and NFL brands.

Created by a Seattle Seahawks fan in Redmond's model shop, the first NFL keyboards were modest green and blue covers featuring the company's home team logos.

When Microsoft co-founder and Seahawks owner Paul Allen tweeted a picture of the covers—gifted to him by the company—"the response we got was exciting," Panos Panay, corporate vice president for Surface Computing, wrote in a blog post.

"So we started to dig in on how we can do this for all the teams and NFL fans," he continued. "It's a natural place to explore given our relationship with the NFL and how Surface Pro is used on the sidelines, in the coaches' booth, and by many teams for playbooks."

Microsoft Surface Special Edition NFL Type Cover

The $400 million partnership between the NFL and Microsoft began in August 2014, when the tech titan provided coaches and players with heavily modified versions (i.e. lacking Internet access and video playback) of its Surface Pro 2 tablets.

And while the first year of usage didn't go exactly as Microsoft planned—TV broadcasters on various occasions referred to the Windows slates as "iPads" or "iPad-like tools"—the company gave the partnership another try. Last August, Redmond replaced the Surface Pro 2 on sidelines with the Pro 3.

Football fans in the US and Canada can start off the season with a new Surface Special Edition NFL Type Cover from select Microsoft Stores and microsoftstore.com; the cases will hit Best Buy and Amazon shelves starting Aug. 29.

For non-sports fans, Microsoft's $159.99 Signature Type Cover, which launched in April, is available in gray via the Microsoft Store.

For more, see PCMag's review of the Microsoft Surface Pro Type Cover.

About Our Expert

Stephanie Mlot

Stephanie Mlot

Contributor

My Experience

  • B.A. in Journalism & Public Relations with minor in Communications Media from Indiana University of Pennsylvania (IUP)
  • Reporter at The Frederick News-Post (2008-2012)
  • Reporter for PCMag and Geek.com (RIP) (2012-present)

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