Women's flag football inches closer to NCAA status

Flag football has taken the next step toward becoming an official NCAA sport.

At the annual NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C., on Jan. 14, the Division I cabinet approved the addition of flag football to the Emerging Sports for Women program. This comes as several schools across the NCAA have added flag football as a women’s varsity sport in recent years.

The approval follows the NCAA Committee on Women's Athletics’ recommendation in February 2025 that Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add flag football to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. The sport will make its Olympic debut in 2028.

“USA Football is excited by today's Division I vote to move women's flag football forward within the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women process,” USA Football CEO and executive director Scott Hallenbeck said. “This is an important recognition as the sport continues to surge in popularity and present new opportunities for women and girls across the country. We look forward to hearing from Divisions II and III later this week, as today's decision has set the tone for the next phase of consideration.”

The Emerging Sports for Women program, started in 1994, has had success in converting sports such as rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling and beach volleyball into varsity women’s sports across the NCAA. Most recently, women’s wrestling was granted widespread varsity status and will hold the sport’s first sanctioned NCAA championship this year in Iowa.

A number of Division I schools have launched or announced plans to start a varsity women’s flag football team. That group includes Alabama State, Long Island, Mercyhurst, Mount St. Mary’s, UT Arlington and Cal Poly, per USA TODAY Sports. Many others in Division II and III also have varsity teams.

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The governing body opposite of the NCAA, the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA), first launched flag football in 2020. Arizona Christian University, an NAIA school, is set to play its first season this year.

There are still hurdles flag football must clear before becoming an NCAA sport. To be considered for championship status, at least 40 NCAA programs will need to sponsor women’s flag football as a varsity sport within 10 years. Those 40 teams would also have to meet minimums in games played and player participation.

According to NCAA data, at least 65 schools had flag football teams at the varsity or club level. Arizona State and Grand Canyon are among those with club teams. The University of Arizona plans to add a club team for the 2026-27 school year.

The decision comes as flag football has taken off in Arizona at the high school level, with the Arizona Interscholastic Association completing its third season of flag as a sanctioned sport in 2025, which saw the addition of a 3A conference to accommodate more teams.