NFL shines spotlight on flag football as the draft takes over Green Bay

GREEN BAY, Wis. (AP) — While the NFL draft takes over Titletown and Lambeau Field, the league is leveraging the excitement surrounding its premier offseason event to promote flag football. NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell, Cam Ward, Travis Hunter and other draft prospects participated in a flag football skills clinic with middle school students and 75 Special Olympics athletes on Wednesday. Ward, Hunter, Abdul Carter and other players tossed passes and led drills. Goodell also joined in and posed for pictures with the special Olympians. "I just hope they learn they got to work hard," Ward said. "They gotta push themselves to how far they think they can't push themselves. There's a lot of days where I wanted to quit but I didn't quit." Former NFL players Bobby Taylor and Mike Daniels also led a flag football training clinic for students on Tuesday. Six high school girls' flag football players will be backstage Thursday night to hand off hats to the prospects who are drafted. On Saturday, girls flag players from Oneida Nation High School will announce one of the draft picks on stage thanks to Packers quarterback Jordan Love and Toyota. "Having the NFL draft here in Green Bay, and obviously, flag football, especially girls flag football, it's a growing sport," Love said. "So we're giving a girls flag football team in the area of Green Bay the opportunity to come out, get on stage during Day 3 of the NFL draft, actually go up there and announce a draft pick. We are empowering them and hopefully giving them an opportunity to visualize what a future in football looks like and making it to that pinnacle of the top." Love has also teamed up with Toyota, presenting sponsor of NFL Flag League Play, to increase opportunities for flag football players. They're covering registration fees for all NFL Flag teams within a 25-mile radius of the Green Bay area. The NFL's goals of expanding flag football starts with Goodell. The league played a major role in getting flag football included in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. "Flag football has been growing dramatically here in the states as well as internationally," Goodell said earlier this month. "It's brought young women into the sport and it's given them a chance to play, which I think is incredibly valuable to our future and rewarding. So now to put it on that Olympic stage is really putting a seal of approval. And frankly it's going to be a stage where a lot of athletes are going to want to participate in, including former and current players, so we'll to have to work through it. I think it's a great opportunity for the athletes, a great opportunity for the NFL and I think it'll be a great opportunity for people to understand football and what it brings to the world." Many NFL star players have already said they'd like to play flag football in the Olympics. But the league and the players' union still have to figure out if that's possible.