Women's flag football could get its own NCAA Tournament by 2028
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Women’s flag football is on the fast track to championship status.
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On Tuesday, the sport took a meaningful step forward after receiving a formal recommendation to become a championship-level sport, which could pave the way for the first official women’s flag football NCAA Tournament as early as the spring of 2028.
The NCAA Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact voted at its spring meeting to recommend Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add a National Collegiate Flag Football Championship. That’s the same committee that oversees the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program, which added flag football back in January.
"The college-level growth in flag football has been significant,” NCAA President Charlie Baker said in a statement. “And this recommendation reflects that. With the sport headed to the 2028 Olympics, the timing couldn't be better for women who might not have had a path to compete at the college level before. That's worth celebrating."
For a sport to graduate from the Emerging Sports for Women program to championship status, 40 schools must sponsor it at a varsity level and meet the sport's minimum competition and participant requirements. Since it was added to the Emerging Sports for Women program, flag football has grown leaps and bounds at the collegiate level. Nearly 20 Division I programs — including one at the Power 4 level, Nebraska — have announced their intentions to launch teams at the varsity level by 2028.
More at the Division II and III levels — from the Atlantic East to Conference Carolinas — played full varsity seasons this year, complete with conference championship games. In 2027, the Division II CIAA and Division I Big South plan to play full varsity seasons, and the Big 12 plans to have six teams playing women’s flag football at the varsity level by 2028. ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said last week that his conference is having “some conversations” about women’s flag football.
In short, women’s flag football will easily clear the minimum NCAA sponsorship of 40 schools. Baker said that more than 60 schools across all three divisions sponsored it at the varsity level this past spring.
"Girls want to play. Whenever you give access and opportunity to an easier way to play, the better the success and numbers in participation you see," said Jacqie McWilliams Parker, the CIAA commissioner and chair of the Committee on Access, Opportunity and Impact. "The young women who are currently playing at our institutions, some never even thought about being able to play in college. Now they have their opportunity.”
Each NCAA division is expected to review the recommendation and potentially sponsor a proposal by July 1 of this year. If proposals are sponsored, the divisions are expected to vote on them in January 2027. All three divisions must approve the legislation to establish a championship. Funding must also be approved by the appropriate financial oversight committees.
If this timeline sticks, an NCAA committee for women’s flag football will be formed in January 2027 and the first tournament and championship for the sport will be held in the spring of 2028.
In lieu of an official NCAA Tournament this year, the Fiesta Sports Foundation held its own national championship for flag football, inviting seven club teams and one varsity squad. Even with an NCAA Tournament, Fiesta Sports CEO Erik Moses hopes that the Phoenix area can continue to host a marquee invitational tournament that gives women a bowl-like experience.
“Obviously, if it becomes an NCAA sanctioned championship sport, they will have a way to determine a champion and all that kind of stuff. We're not going to get in the middle of that,” Moses told USA TODAY Sports last month. “But we do want to continue to extend what we call a 'bowl game experience' to these athletes. And, you know, frankly, to make it more than a tournament, but a way of helping to shape what the sport will become.”
UCF won the Fiesta Sports championship, defeating Florida 19-7. In the Division II ranks, Wingate won the first Conference Carolinas' league championship in women’s flag football this spring, defeating Ferrum College 32-14. Marymount repeated as the champs of the Division III Atlantic East Conference with a 12-6 win over Eastern.
These teams could compete in an NCAA Tournament bracket in two years, just ahead of the Olympic debut of women's flag football at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: NCAA pushes women's flag football toward championship status