Women's flag football grows on college campuses, from startup clubs to varsity teams with NFL boost

ROSEVILLE, Minn. (AP) — The flyers started appearing around the Augustana University campus earlier this year, followed by the all-student email blast. A club team was forming for women's flag football, with room for all comers. Kiley Coyne, an assistant director of admission for the music department who just happens to play on a women's tackle football team in her spare time, eagerly added coaching to her duties at the school of 2,000 undergraduates in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. "I remember saying, 'I just need 10.' If we can have an offense and a defense, let's go," Coyne said. "Now we have 23 people who've gone out for it." With the sport's inclusion in the Summer Olympics lineup for Los Angeles in 2028 serving as the most recent bump, flag football participation by girls has continued to spike across the country. The NFL has been a staunch supporter. "I think one of the beauties of flag football is how accessible it is," said Stephanie Kwok, the league's vice president of flag football. "It's adding to the opportunities for girls to play sports." The college level is the natural place for the next surge of growth. Augustana is one of seven NCAA schools fielding a club team this spring in a league launched with $140,000 and logistical support from the Minnesota Vikings. With five institutions in Minnesota and one in Wisconsin, a schedule was arranged for each team to assemble for multiple games at the same site on three Saturdays this month, including a championship tournament this weekend. When Brooklyn Sturm first arrived on the Augustana campus as a freshman last fall, the former high school volleyball, basketball and softball standout wasn't planning any athletic commitments beyond intramurals. Now she's a quarterback. "I thought I needed to focus on academics, but when I got here it felt like a part of me was missing," said Sturm, whose team made the four-hour drive to Northwestern University in Roseville, Minnesota, for the inaugural round of games on April 6. "If we had this opportunity in high school, I probably would've taken it." According to National Federation of High Schools data, 14 states have girls' flag football as a sanctioned sport with 42,955 players nationwide during the 2023-24 school year. That figure doesn't include club or intramural participation, of course. About half a million girls ages 6 to 17 play the sport in some organized form. In Minnesota, the Vikings helped launch a four-team pilot at the high school club level last spring. This year, there are 51 schools in the league. More than 100 higher-educational institutions, either in the NCAA, the NAIA or the junior college level, are now offering women's flag football as a varsity or club sport, according to the NFL. The NAIA was on board first with sanctioned competition that began in 2021. There are 16 schools currently supporting an NCAA varsity program, with at least 20 more teams expected to start in 2026. Earlier this year, the NCAA recommended women's flag football be designated an emerging sport. One of the most intriguing developments in Minnesota has been the turnout from women who had never played an organized team sport before. "Why am I doing this? It's for those women who've never worn a uniform, who've never been part of the school spirit of being part of a team," said Melissa Lee, an associate athletic director at Augsburg University in Minneapolis who agreed to coach the school's team. The obvious first question at the first gathering was about previous experience in the sport. "What's their token answer? We played powderpuff at homecoming our junior and senior year," said Lee, who had 24 women sign up at the school of about 2,400 undergrads. "That was all it took for me. I said, 'You're on the team.'" Even for the coaches on men's tackle teams who've crossed over this spring to help lead the women's flag startups, there has been a lot to learn. The standard rules of flag football differ more than simply the absence of tackling, with plenty of variance from league to league and level to level. The fields are half as wide and half as long, and play is typically 5-on-5. The offense has four downs to cross midfield, then another four to score. Punts are verbally declared and not kicked, like an intentional walk in baseball, before the opponent takes possession at its own 5-yard line. The defense can rush the passer, but only from 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. Running plays aren't allowed inside the defense's 5-yard line. After a touchdown, the scoring team chooses a 1-point conversion play from the 5 or a 2-point play from the 10. Next season, Coyne said, the hope is to move to 7-on-7 play to increase playing time. Enough schools have expressed interest that the seven-team league could double in size. Then, ideally, varsity status would follow if a sustainable way to fund it can be figured out. "I just love taking new opportunities," Sturm said, recalling the surprise by her family members at her initial decision to not play a college sport. "Now that they know I'm getting back into it, they're like, 'This is you. This is what you're supposed to do.'"