Flag Football’s Rise Among Girls and Women Boosts NFL, USA Football

NEW ORLEANS — The NFL’s increased emphasis on flag football was on full display with multiple events over the week to showcase the league’s years-long push into the sport, especially on the girls and women’s front.

Flag football debuts on the Olympic program in 2028 in Los Angeles and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said Monday the league is considering the establishment of a pro league, or potentially both a men’s league and a women’s league. The NFL also promoted the inclusion of girls flag football as an official high school sport in Louisiana, which was announced this week and continues its surge in popularity.

“It’s all really important to legitimize this incredible phenomenon called flag football and particularly in the girls to women’s vertical,” said USA Football President and CEO Scott Hallenbeck. “I just think it speaks volumes to how enthusiastic we all are about this opportunity.”

The NAIA has sponsored women’s flag football for the past four years with 19 schools playing this past fall. The NFL, along with USA Football, NFL Flag and the RCX Sports Foundation, have applied to have the sport be an NCAA Emerging Sport for Women; Hallenback said indications are the NCAA may fast-track women’s flag to become a championship sport in time for LA28.

“Particularly for women’s flag football, it’s just stunning how quickly it’s grown,” Hallenbeck said. “The natural next progression would be a continued growth at the collegiate level. NAIA has led there and continues to grow and now the NCAA is moving faster than they’ve ever moved with an emerging sport for women.”

Then there was the schedule of events, starting Tuesday night with a glow-in-the-dark game at the 18^th Ward Field with players wearing New Orleans Saints uniforms taking part in a game that opened a permanent light installation at the field with multiple NFL players plus NFL Flag and USA Flag players.

Then on Wednesday night, there was the third annual Pride Flag Football Clinic for youth and their families and allies from the New Orleans Pride Center which included USA Football coaches and representatives from the National Gay Flag Football League and a local flag league serving the LGBTQ community, the Crescent City Football League.

There’s also a celebrity game on Saturday night with a group of influencers, former NFL players including Cam Newton and Michael Vick. That’s on top of how the Pro Bowl has been organized as a flag football game the past three years.

“You can’t have a stronger partner than the NFL and there’s so much enthusiasm across all the clubs, the ownership, you name it,” Hallenbeck said. “And we’re now trying to figure out again, how do we work together? Obviously as a national governing body we have very distinct, exclusive responsibilities. They understand that they also have just an incredible machine to grow this and scale it and so forth. So how do we best align? How do we best support each other? Those are things we’re sorting out now, which is just a continuation of our long standing relationship.”