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The last time we heard from the NFL about flag football was when pro players were trying to live down the resounding defeat they suffered at the hands of Team USA Flag Football. (Long story short: Ouch.)
Regardless, the NFL is all in on flag, having announced it will develop and operate men’s and women’s pro flag leagues.
According to a statement from the NFL, the new venture (in partnership with TMRW Sports) will launch with support from a broad and influential investor pool that includes NFL teams, established institutional and strategic investors, and current and former NFL players.
It’s a long list and features Pro Football Hall of Famers Peyton Manning, Joe Montana, Steve Young and Larry Fitzgerald — plus Tom Brady, Eli Manning and Justin Tuck, and current players Arik Armstead, Bobby Wagner, and Russell Wilson.
In addition, a number of other prominent figures from the sports and entertainment world are part of the investment group, including female sports athletes and advocates like Billie Jean King, Ilana Kloss, Alex Morgan and Serena Williams. Several institutional investors are on board, too.
“Flag football represents so much of what makes this game special, showcasing the skill, creativity and competitiveness that define this sport,” seven-time Super Bowl Champion Tom Brady said in a statement. “Flag football’s rapid rise has been incredible, and the extensive list of current and former players supporting this league shows just how strongly athletes believe in its future.”
More details about the league and how it will operate are expected over the next several months.
“As the flag football movement continues its explosive global growth, a professional flag league completes the pathway for elite athletes to compete at every level of the game, from youth to high school and college, to the Olympic stage, and now professionally,” added Troy Vincent Sr., the NFL’s executive vice president of football operations.
“This is especially meaningful for girls and young women who are helping drive the sport’s growth worldwide and who can now see their dreams in this game extend all the way to the professional level,” he adds.
Indeed, one of the flag football’s biggest success stories is the collective opportunity it offers female athletes. No fewer than 17 states sanction it as a high school varsity sport for girls, with several others running pilot programs or considering adoption.
All told, the NFL reports that some level of high school flag football is now played in 39 states.
According to the National Federation of State High School Associations, nearly 69,000 girls at more than 2,735 school participated in flag football during the 2024-25 academic year.
Additionally, more than 100 colleges and universities now offer women’s flag football programming. The NCAA recently approved the addition of flag football to the Emerging Sports for Women program, an important step in establishing flag as a varsity women’s sport across the NCAA. And the University of Nebraska is now the first Power Four Division I program to launch a varsity women’s flag football team.
What’s more, the sport was included at the World Games in Birmingham, AL, in 2022, and flag football will debut as an Olympic Sport at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles — featuring players from NFL teams. Even the Pro Bowl, the NFL’s longtime all-star showcase, has rebranded in recent years as the Pro Bowl Games and featuring a flag football game.
At the youth sports level, NFL Flag, the largest youth flag football organization in the country, has about 830,000 players between the ages of 5 and 17 participating in more than 2,000 leagues in all 50 states. All told, youth flag football participation in the U.S. has grown more than 50% since 2020, to about 4.1 million players, according to the NFL.
If TMRW Sports sounds familiar, it’s probably because the company’s first successful venture was the development and launch of of TGL (now known as TGL presented by SoFi), a primetime team golf league in partnership with the PGA TOUR.
TMRW Sports was chosen to partner with the NFL on the new pro league following a competitive evaluation process that concluded with NFL clubs authorizing 32 Equity (the member clubs’ investment vehicle) to approve an investment of up to $32 million to support the launch and operation of the new professional flag football league.
“For more than three decades, the NFL has made a significant investment in flag football at the grassroots levels, including youth, high school and college. And now with the inclusion of flag football in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, TMRW Sports shares a vision with the NFL to further fuel fandom and participation worldwide with the development of a professional flag football league,” said Mike McCarley, founder and CEO of TMRW Sports. “As the elite competitive tier of flag football, this league will mark a new era for the sport.”
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