Flag Football Growth | NFL Football Operations
The Future of Football in the States
Across the U.S., the NFL, and its clubs are working with more than 2,000 schools to integrate flag football into the physical education curriculum. They are also working with 12 states — Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Tennessee on sanctioning flag football as a varsity sport in high schools.
The growth is largely attributed to NFL FLAG, with more than 1,600 teams serving over 620,000 youth athletes (ranging from 4-17) in all 50 states. Behind the increase are NFL FLAG’s strategic campaigns and partnerships to bring flag football to thousands of schools, communities and families around the country.
The NFL hosted the Flag All 32 Summer Invitational in Washington, D.C. in July 2023.
College conferences across the country are recognizing flag football as an intercollegiate sport. The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics declared women’s flag football as an emerging sport in 2020.
The Atlantic East Conference announced its plan to be the first NCAA Conference – Division I, II or III – to offer varsity female flag football with an anticipated start date of Spring 2025.
Although the number of programs at the collegiate level continues to grow, high school flag football serves as the main pipeline for growth domestically with women continuing to drive some of the fastest growth in the game.
With recreational flag football as important as ever, NFL FLAG is keeping a close eye on growth in that area with its partner, RCX Sports. The official operating partner of NFL FLAG, RCX Sports announced a new partnership with NIRSA: Leaders in Collegiate Recreation in 2023 to increase flag football participation, programming and training across college campuses in the intramural and club sports arenas.
The partnership is a continuation of RCX’s commitment to equip sports leagues with the resources, training and tools they need to promote accessible and inclusivity in the sport.
“Not only is flag football growing rapidly across in the youth sports arena, but this collaboration also gives college students who want to continue their football playing careers past high school a chance to get back on the field,” said Vincent, Sr. “Flag football is poised for even greater expansion as the cornerstone of the NFL’s domestic and international participation and development strategies.”
