NFL to Launch Professional Flag Football Leagues Ahead of 2028 Los Angeles Olympics

We have been hearing for sometime about the possibility of an NFL backed Flag Football League happening and the UFL front office fears of it. Why does it matter?

These games would be played during the UFL season. It could also take away players from the United Football League. Estimates have the NFL backed Flag Football League set to start in Spring of 2027.

Here is the official press release;

The NFL plans to launch women’s and men’s professional flag football leagues “in the next couple of years,” Commissioner Roger Goodell said Thursday.

The timeline outlined by Goodell at a sports conference in London would see the leagues created ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which will feature flag football for the first time.

“We’re committed to creating a women’s professional league, and a men’s professional flag league. We’ve had a great deal of interest in that and I expect that we’ll be able to do that, launch that, in the next couple of years,” Goodell said at the Leaders in Sport conference at Twickenham Stadium.

The league has prioritized flag football as a way to attract young fans, both male and female.

“The demand is there. We’re seeing colleges in the states and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program,” Goodell said.

“If you set that structure up where there’s youth leagues, going into high school, into college and then professional, I think you can develop a system of scale. That’s an important infrastructure that we need to create.”