The recent explosion of pro sports leagues in North America is crystal clear. Timed nicely with a twin eruption of women’s sports, the game has been changed luminously for athletes, sports fans and business alike.
If pickleball, golf simulation and cornhole are to have broadcast-worthy pro leagues, than any sport can.
Which makes it so mysterious why flag football has not yet risen into the mob of professional sport.
Needless to say though, it’s time is finally coming.
Perhaps because the National Football League was so focused on painstakingly building its business into the multi-billion dollar enterprise that it is, flag football was left to the sidelines, an easy-to-run after-school program for youth, a chuckled-at afterthought for the professionals.
Or maybe the NFL just didn’t see the upside of a game played by both women and men, surprisingly to be debuted at the Los Angeles Olympics in 2028, that advertisers want to use to advance their connection to the American-made pigskin game, clamored for by international athletes and fans.
But for the NFL, and the world, flag football is almost here.
“It’s clear there’s a lot of interest in a pro flag football league,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell stated in a media conference at the league’s recent Annual Meeting.
“We have been getting bids from people who want to invest in that, either financially, or invest in the operation of that. We’re hard at work, and I expect there to be progress soon.”
Perhaps anyone could have quarterbacked development of a pro flag football league in recent years and decades, but NFL branding and activation increase the chances of success exponentially. This newfound enthusiasm won’t hurt either.
Sports Business Journal reported that 10 companies had responded to the NFL’s initial request for proposals to invest, and that was before an April deadline set by Goodell. Perhaps the most high profile of the interested investors is Seven Seven Six, the venture capital firm owned by Alexis Ohanian, the husband of tennis icon Serena Williams.
Williams has unleashed her entrepreneurial skills recently by joining ownership groups across the spectrum of pro sports, notably with the Toronto Tempo, set to begin play in the WNBA in 2026.
The combined women’s and international components of professional flag football make for such a tantalizing opportunity. Sports Pro writes: “The physicality of the NFL, coupled with a historic lack of playing culture, facilities, and elite coaching when compared to the U.S., makes it a challenge to sell American football to women and outside the U.S. – at least when it comes to participation. The league sees flag football as a way to attract new players and fans, growing the NFL globally and allowing the league to increase commercial and broadcast revenues.”
So it’s two for one. The NFL could simultaneously launch NFL Flag and WNFL Flag, not to mention establish teams in markets in and outside the U.S. Toronto and Canada have long desired NFL presence – a professional women’s flag football team sanctioned by the NFL and located in Toronto is the answer to many football fan’s prayers.
The Women’s National Basketball Association and National Women’s Soccer League have seen team valuations multiply into the hundreds of millions in just the last five years. The Professional Women’s Hockey League has taken traditional hockey markets in Canada and the United States by storm in the last two years. The allure of American football has never been stronger, just take a look at the league’s current broadcast TV deal, responsible for USD $20 billion of revenue per annum.
USA Today reported that NFL stars Joe Burrow and Tyreek Hill are among many who have expressed their desire to play flag football in the Olympics. For the athletes, it’s a chance to compete for a previously unattainable goal – an Olympic medal.
For the business world, flag football leagues for both men and women represent a chance to cash in, and with numerous sports league start-ups around to consider and learn from, it’s an opportunity to get it right from the start, while being NFL adjacent.
While the establishment of pro flag football will still take some time, the chatter around it has heated up. Expect LA 28 to be the game’s worldwide coming out party, with pro leagues established either to preview it or bask in the glory after the gold rush.
Follow: @dgontheroad
