Patrick Mahomes has said he's interested in playing Olympic flag football
Happy Friday, folks. It's Randall. I hope summer 2024 has been marvelous for you
all. If you're reading this, I'm assuming you've been enjoying the Paris
Olympics just as much as I have. They have been spectacular.
As the games close this weekend, I wanted to turn your focus to a flag football story I wrote this week that previews the sport's debut at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Flag football was thought to be the forgotten little brother of tackle football. But the NFL, USA Football and the International Federation of American Football have poured resources into the sport, resulting in a growth spurt. The game has 20 million players globally across 100 countries, according to IFAF.
Flag football is headed to the 2028 Olympics. Will you tune in? Photographer: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
A sports watcher who consumes traditional football might call Olympic flag football weird. The field is 25 yards wide and 50 yards long. There are two twenty minute halves and the game clock only stops at the end of each half, during a charged timeout, when an injury happens or at a referee's discretion.
The 2028 Olympics hold a lot of weight for the NFL, but the league still has things to figure out. Most importantly, will NFL players be able to compete?
I'll tell you now, everyone I spoke to wants it to happen, and the players do, too. But it won't become a reality unless the NFL and the NFL Players Association can strike a deal — similar to the NBA's setup — that does things like protect players and maintain insurance.
A spokesperson for the NFLPA told me that the league and the union haven't had any conversations to figure out the issues. But the union also recognized the opportunity with the rep saying it can be what the Dream Team was for the NBA.
Patrick Mahomes has said he's interested in playing Olympic flag football. Photographer: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Imagine a team with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Sauce Gardner and Micah Parsons.
The moment may be even larger for the women who will compete in the games. Multiple high-ranking NFL sources told me league owners and team presidents have had private conversations about creating a pro women's flag football league.
Stephanie Kwok, recently hired as the NFL's first head of flag football, told me that she expects there to be "real interest" in a women's pro flag football league.
Meanwhile, the momentum behind the women's game continues. About a dozen states have sanctioned flag football as a varsity high school sport and more are expected to add it.
In college, more conferences are adding the sport. And NCAA President Charlie Baker has said this is just the beginning.
"We have a great opportunity to build on the enthusiasm for women's flag football" ahead of the Olympics, Baker said earlier this year.
The work Baker and the NCAA do over the next four years will be instrumental to the sport's growth. But without a pro league, a woman who plays collegiate flag football can only go so far.
So...will America be able to assemble the NFL's version of the Avengers for the 2028 Olympics? Will someone else create a pro women's flag football league? And how many conferences will pick up flag football as a collegiate sport?
As the games close this weekend, I wanted to turn your focus to a flag football story I wrote this week that previews the sport's debut at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
Flag football was thought to be the forgotten little brother of tackle football. But the NFL, USA Football and the International Federation of American Football have poured resources into the sport, resulting in a growth spurt. The game has 20 million players globally across 100 countries, according to IFAF.
Flag football is headed to the 2028 Olympics. Will you tune in? Photographer: Patrick Smith/Getty Images
A sports watcher who consumes traditional football might call Olympic flag football weird. The field is 25 yards wide and 50 yards long. There are two twenty minute halves and the game clock only stops at the end of each half, during a charged timeout, when an injury happens or at a referee's discretion.
The 2028 Olympics hold a lot of weight for the NFL, but the league still has things to figure out. Most importantly, will NFL players be able to compete?
I'll tell you now, everyone I spoke to wants it to happen, and the players do, too. But it won't become a reality unless the NFL and the NFL Players Association can strike a deal — similar to the NBA's setup — that does things like protect players and maintain insurance.
A spokesperson for the NFLPA told me that the league and the union haven't had any conversations to figure out the issues. But the union also recognized the opportunity with the rep saying it can be what the Dream Team was for the NBA.
Patrick Mahomes has said he's interested in playing Olympic flag football. Photographer: Kevin C. Cox/Getty Images
Imagine a team with Patrick Mahomes, Justin Jefferson, Ja'Marr Chase, Sauce Gardner and Micah Parsons.
The moment may be even larger for the women who will compete in the games. Multiple high-ranking NFL sources told me league owners and team presidents have had private conversations about creating a pro women's flag football league.
Stephanie Kwok, recently hired as the NFL's first head of flag football, told me that she expects there to be "real interest" in a women's pro flag football league.
Meanwhile, the momentum behind the women's game continues. About a dozen states have sanctioned flag football as a varsity high school sport and more are expected to add it.
In college, more conferences are adding the sport. And NCAA President Charlie Baker has said this is just the beginning.
"We have a great opportunity to build on the enthusiasm for women's flag football" ahead of the Olympics, Baker said earlier this year.
The work Baker and the NCAA do over the next four years will be instrumental to the sport's growth. But without a pro league, a woman who plays collegiate flag football can only go so far.
So...will America be able to assemble the NFL's version of the Avengers for the 2028 Olympics? Will someone else create a pro women's flag football league? And how many conferences will pick up flag football as a collegiate sport?
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