Pro Football Rumors
NFL players will take part in the 2028 Summer Olympics when flag football makes its debut in that event. The NFL played a leading role in the effort to have flag football included in the Olympics, but the league is making other efforts to expand that version of the game.
When speaking at the Leaders in Sport conference in London recently, commissioner Roger Goodell announced the NFL plans to launch professional flag football leagues in the near future. That confirms previous comments made on the subject. Presumably, the leagues will be in place prior to the Olympics.
“We’re committed to creating a women’s professional league, and a men’s professional flag league,” Goodell said (via the Associated Press). “We’ve had a great deal of interest in that and I expect that we’ll be able to do that, launch that, in the next couple of years. The demand is there. We’re seeing colleges in the [United States] and universities internationally also that want to make it a part of their program.”
Indeed, participation in flag football at the youth level along with high school and college players has surged in recent years. That is is true in the United States but also internationally, including many of the markets the NFL has targeted with its overseas games. To no surprise, then, the league will be heavily involved with setting up professional leagues in anticipation of flag football being showcased in 2028.
It will be interesting to see how the pro leagues take shape once plans are finalized. Needless to say, the NFL is envisioning further expansion of the flag game through the Olympics and its aftermath. That will take place outside the United States but also on a domestic scale.
