Speaking at the Leaders in Sport conference at London’s Twickenham Stadium, Commissioner Roger Goodell announced on Oct. 2 that the National Football League (NFL) will establish professional leagues for men’s and women’s flag football “in the next couple of years,” the AP reports. The point is to establish them before the 2028 Olympics, in Los Angeles, where flag football will make its debut.
“The demand is there. We’re seeing colleges in the states and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program,” said Goodell, adding: “If you set that structure up where there’s youth leagues, going into high school, into college and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That’s an important infrastructure that we need to create.”
Goodell announced that, in addition, the NFL owners had voted unanimously to permit any NFL player to compete in the new Olympic sport. He described the decision as “the next step in making NFL football and football [overall] into a global sport.”
Flag football evolved during the Second World War as a way for American soldiers to indulge in a beloved sport while minimizing the risk of injury. It later made its way into the physical-education programs of many American schools. Some children would play it on asphalt, using for flags a sock tucked into either side of the waistband of their shorts.
