Women’s flag football has made headlines recently after the NCAA’s Committee on Women’s Athletics recommended its addition to division I, II and III sports. After this recommendation, it is in the hands of college programs in all three divisions to move the sport forward collegiately.
There are five sports currently in the Emerging Women’s Sports Program, with flag football hoping to be the sixth. The program is intended to help schools provide more athletics for women and create more sponsorship options for schools. The Committee “will review updated statistics, current sports sponsorship numbers, financial considerations, potential timelines and other relevant topics before making a final decision,” Gail Dent said on NCAA.com.
This recommendation comes along with the growing popularity of flag football in women’s sports. The National Federation of State High School Associations have seen the number of young women playing football or flag football rise recently. “Women’s Flag Football is an increasingly popular sport that has exploded worldwide to more than 20 million participants in over 100 countries — including about 500,000 girls under the age of 17 in the U.S.,” according to vwuathletics.com.
There are a lot of people fighting for this sport to reach championship status. “The Committee on Women’s Athletics wants to thank RCX Sports Foundation and USA Football for submitting the application,” Ragean Hill, chair of the Committee on Women’s Athletics and executive associate athletics director at Charlotte, said.
At least 65 schools are sponsoring flag football for women at the varsity or club level, with more expected to join in 2026 according to NCAA.com. Flag football has also made its way into the Olympics in 2028. After getting the program approved, “a sport must have 40 schools with the sport at a varsity level and meet minimum participation requirements (as reflected in the NCAA Sports Sponsorship and Participation Rates Database) to be considered for championship status,” according to NCAA.com.
Virginia Wesleyan has decided to add Women’s Flag Football, making it the 26th sport offered at VWU. “We are excited to offer opportunities for women to participate in flag football at the collegiate level,” Executive Director of Intercollegiate Athletics at VWU, Andrea Hoover-Erbig said.
This movement is all about growing women’s sports and giving them an opportunity to play football. “It’s really cool to see more opportunities for girls in athletics and I am excited to watch,” sophomore Madison Mellon said.
“I used to play flag football and realized how fun it really is, so I think it’s cool that we will have a real team to watch,” sophomore Adriana Paci said.
Everything lies ahead for the future in women’s flag football. Virginia Wesleyan is somewhat early to the women’s flag football scene, but with more schools adding a team, the competition will increase.
By: Brian Madden
bvmadden@vwu.edu
