The NFL is helping wave the flag for flag football to become part of the Olympics.
The target is the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles.
Flag football is one of the faster growing options for the sport, both within this country and worldwide. There currently are 71 nations on five continents that are members of the International Federation of American Football, and the flag version will be among 30 sports on display at the World Games in July in Birmingham, Alabama — a key step in popularizing the game.
“It is important, with the Olympics as an ultimate goal,” says Pierre Trochet, IFAF’s president, “but we also have a task in growing and having a solid competition plan over the next five, six, seven years on every continent.
“The Olympics are the biggest global stage for sports in the world. Flag football can be played by men and women and also be coed, it’s easy to integrate and safe to play.”
Entry onto the Olympic docket is not easy, though. Having the NFL’s power and popularity behind flag football certainly could make the IOC and Los Angeles Games organizers pay heed.
“NFL Flag is among the fastest growing sports in America and around the world for boys and girls, men and women. Under IFAF’s leadership, we share a common interest in increasing opportunities for athletes to play football at all levels and support the work IFAF has done to help grow the sport globally,” says Damani Leech, NFL chief operating officer of…
