The NFL is eyeing a late-spring or early-summer 2027 launch for its two professional flag football leagues — one for men and one for women — Peter O’Reilly, executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said during a Monday interview on the “Up & Adams” show.
“We’re in the lab, if you will, of really building what that league’s going to be like,” O’Reilly told host Kay Adams. “Thinking about what’s the structure of it, where are we playing games, how does it roll out? Incredibly exciting to be having conversations with the athletes who are going to play in this league, who maybe dreamed one day there might be a professional flag league, and now we’re saying, ‘This is real.’
“There’s going to be a combine for this pro flag league. There’s going to be a draft. There’s going to be an opportunity to play this sport at the highest level, and it’s going to be awesome.”
The NFL has invested heavily in the growth of flag football, which the league says is among the world’s fastest-growing sports with 20 million participants in youth, men’s and women’s levels across 100 countries. NFL owners view the sport as a tool to continue to grow pro football’s popularity worldwide, particularly in the lead-up to the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which will feature men’s and women’s flag football for the first time.
In March, the NFL announced the selection of TMRW Sports as its developmental and operational partner in launching professional flag football. TMRW Sports has made a name for itself through the development and launch of the primetime golf league TGL, which capped its inaugural season in March and was seen as a general success ratings-wise.
Last year, NFL owners approved a resolution allowing active players to try out for Olympic flag football teams. At the time, commissioner Roger Goodell said a significant number of NFL players had shown interest; however, a recent showcase in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic of NFL stars taking on the pre-existing U.S. national flag football team may have illustrated a disparity in skill sets. Team USA won all three games against NFL players (which included Joe Burrow, Jayden Daniels and Tom Brady) by a combined score of 106-44.
When asked if professional flag leagues could be a development tool for the NFL, O’Reilly separated the two sports.
“I don’t know. I think it could be a little bit of both,” O’Reilly said. “You’ll see maybe there is some pathway component to it, but I think more than anything, it is a distinct sport, a distinct path. Certainly on the women’s side, this will be the best of the best from around the world playing in this professional flag league.”
Flag football is becoming more established at the high school and college levels across the country. The National Federation of State High School Associations says the sport is offered at the high school level in 39 states: 17 have it as a sanctioned sport, while 22 are pilot programs. In April, eight teams participated in the first college women’s flag football tournament, which signaled the latest step toward the sport being recognized by the NCAA.
O’Reilly described the future of flag football as “limitless.”
“We’re going to be really proud when we wake up and see what this sport has become,” O’Reilly said. “Because of how accessible it is, how low the barriers to entry are, we hope it becomes a ubiquitous sport globally, a true global sport, a global form of our game.”
Flag football is expected to be a point of discussion during the NFL’s spring league meeting in Orlando, Fla., on Tuesday and Wednesday.