I'd like to actually know (if any) how many of the Trackballs the GDC broke during initial game development. They seem very hard to break just with the limited handling I've had with them at Kickoff in Manchester, and our own. You have got to really be beating on them (or trying to break them) to do so I'm thinking.
BTW, a tear in the inner layer can be easily sealed with a little bit of
Gaffer's tape as a little birdie told me (which may work better than duct tape) and be more reliable than a rubber/vinyl patch kit depending on how big the rip/tear/break is.
I'm still holding off on posting where I found equivalent balls to the ones supplied to us to see if I'm right, and to not confuse the FIRST community when (or if) the official supplier is eventually released to the public. The ones I found seem to be made of the same materials, but weight may be an issue since that's not listed in the spec sheet of the balls I found.
Time will tell though.