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Stephen Holder
Flag football is enjoying massive growth in the United States and around the world, with its inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics potentially taking the sport to unprecedented heights.
The push has been turbocharged by significant support from the NFL, which sees flag football as key to its growth at home and abroad. That’s why NFL players will be eligible to participate on Olympic teams at the Games in Los Angeles, following a unanimous vote of approval by the owners at the spring league meeting.
“It’s an incredible honor for any athlete to represent their country in the Olympics, which is the pinnacle of global sport,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a league statement. “I know firsthand that the inclusion of flag football in the Olympics has sparked a tremendous amount of excitement among NFL players interested in the chance to compete for their country on the world stage. We are thrilled that they will now have that chance.”
The 2025 NFL FLAG Championships will air on ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+ from July 18 to July 20, featuring the best youth boy’s and girl’s players in the world. It’s worth checking out to gain familiarity with the game as excitement grows for 2028. In the meantime, here’s where everything stands with the Olympic flag football plans.
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How was flag football added to the Olympics?
The addition of flag football for the 2028 Games was the result of lobbying efforts by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and the NFL. The joint effort, called Vision28, was seen as a vehicle to grow the game internationally through the world’s largest sporting event.
The International Olympic Committee (IOC) routinely considers adding provisional sports to the traditional slate of Olympic events through local host committees. If successful, the sports can return for future Games. That was the case with surfing, skateboarding and sport climbing. On the other hand, break dancing — the subject of much discussion during the Paris Games — did not make the cut for 2028.
In October 2023, flag football was approved for inclusion in the 2028 Olympics, alongside squash, cricket, baseball-softball and lacrosse. Of those, cricket, baseball-softball and lacrosse have previously been medal sports at the Games. Whether flag football is kept in at the 2032 Olympics will be up to Brisbane’s organizing committeeas well as the success of the competition in Los Angeles.
Flag football is appealing for another reason: There will be both men’s and women’s teams in the field of nations competing. That fits well with one of the NFL’s priorities of marketing to its sizable female audience. The league says that nearly half of its audience is women, and Goodell and other NFL officials have often noted their importance to the league’s success. The U.S. women’s team has won the past three IFAF World Championships.
How many players are allowed for each country’s roster, and what will the qualifying process look like?
Olympic rosters are expected to be capped at 10 players, with certain positional designations. Per the IFAF rulebookoffensive players are either a snapper, runner or receiver — and the quarterback is technically categorized as a runner. On defense, a player can be a blitzer, rusher or defender. NFL FLAG has more specific positions: quarterback, running back, wide receiver, center, rusher, defensive back and safety.
The qualifying process has yet to be determined, but it’s usually multilayered for team sports. Let’s take men’s basketball as an example, where seven countries qualified for the 2024 Olympics via their finishes in the 2023 FIBA World Cup. An additional four countries qualified through four Olympic qualifying tournaments held before the Games. Women’s basketball has a slightly different process. The FIBA World Cup winner got an automatic bid for 2024, while 10 other spots were determined from the Olympic qualifying tournaments. The host country got an automatic bid in both competitions, too.
We do know that six nations will be selected in both men’s and women’s flag football play at the LA28. The IFAF is officially recognized by the IOC and could have its World Championships serve as the Olympic qualifying process. So based on the final leaderboard at the 2024 IFAF World Championships, the United States, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, France and Italy would’ve qualified on the men’s side under that scenario. The U.S., Mexico, Japan, Austria, Canada and Spain would’ve qualified on the women’s side.
What are the NFL’s plans for managing roster selection?
NFL owners passed a resolution in May that lays out how the league would like to govern its approach to permitting players to participate in the Olympics. The resolution is technically still a proposal, pending negotiations with the NFL Players Association, the IFAF and various nations’ governing bodies. But there are some specific goals laid out.
Among them: Any NFL player may participate in tryouts; a limit of one player per NFL team can be on each national team’s roster; NFL international pathway players may participate for their home countries and are not subject to other roster limits; a schedule must be set that does not “unreasonably conflict with” players’ commitments to their NFL teams.
There might be an agreement in principle, but the details remain fluid. The NFL also doesn’t have final say on the team, as USA Football is the official governing body in charge of selecting, training and supervising the men’s and women’s national teams.
“How do we go about it, crossing all the T’s, dotting all the I’s, making sure everyone’s comfortable?” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said. “There’s still some work to do for sure.”
Will players have a waiver about flag football in their contracts? What offseason activities could they miss?
It’s unclear how the permission will specifically be granted, but owners, players and the union appear to be aligned on the idea of NFL players playing in the Olympics. One of the key elements of the proposal passed by owners was a commitment to provide adequate injury protection for players and teams through the purchase of insurance coverage. Players would presumably receive their salaries in the event of an injury, while teams could receive salary-cap credit for a player who is unavailable.
The NBA’s agreement with FIBA prohibits NBA teams from preventing players from participating in international competitions provided adequate insurance coverage is secured. When Paul George suffered a lower right leg fracture while playing a scrimmage for Team USA in 2014, the Indiana Pacers — his team at the time — paid his salary and were able to recoup 80% of those costs through insurance, ESPN reported at the time.
It remains to be seen what offseason activities will be impacted throughout the qualifying process, which likely would start in the years prior to 2028. But one real possibility is the Olympics coinciding with the start of training camp. The Games are set to conclude on July 30, 2028, though it’s still unknown what dates flag football will actually be played. Most NFL training camps are underway by then, as a majority of teams are reporting to camp on July 21 or July 22 this year.
“Ensuring that the timing works within our calendar was really important,” NFL executive Peter O’Reilly said. “Conversation or anything going on in ’27 would be more of an acclimation period only during dead periods in our calendar. And then ’28 would be really working … within the dead periods and really creating windows that don’t conflict with an NFL calendar.”
What have we learned from flag football being introduced to the Pro Bowl?
The Pro Bowl’s shift from a contact game into primarily a flag football event in 2023 has perhaps given the game its biggest platform so far. And the NFL has been pleased with the response, including strong attendance in the first three years of the revamped event.
League officials have observed a more competitive approach to the games because of the reduced risk of injury. Players have also been more willing to participate, with fewer opting out than in the tackle format, according to the NFL. But the television audience has taken a hit, with 4.7 million viewers this past February after 6.7 million in the final year of contact play.
Those takeaways have further emboldened the NFL to lean into its flag football efforts, which now include the formation of its own men’s and women’s leagues. Numerous groups have already submitted bids to be investors, ESPN reported in April. Not many details are known about what shape the league will take, but the NFL has big plans that include selling media rights to have it broadcasted.
How do the Olympic play rules compare to the Pro Bowl format?
The differences start with the sheer number of players on the field. The Pro Bowl format features 7-on-7 competition, something that is particularly familiar to players because 7-on-7 periods are a staple of NFL practices. Olympic flag competition will employ a 5-on-5 format, and the IFAF field is narrower. While the Pro Bowl Games maintain the NFL’s 53-yard width, the IFAF field is 25 yards wide. The fields have the same length, though: 50 yards plus two 10-yard end zones.
The Pro Bowl also utilizes four 12-minute quarters, with international play consisting of two 20-minute halves.
The similarities include each team having four downs to reach midfield for a first down and four more to find the end zone. Touchdowns are worth six points, and teams have the opportunity to compete for one or two extra points by scoring from the 5- or 10-yard line, respectively. Pass rushers must establish themselves before the snap and start 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. A player can only be downed if either of their two flags is pulled or if they go out of bounds. And blocking is not allowed.
Which NFL players have expressed interest in playing in the Olympics?
A number of players have expressed an openness to the idea of taking a shot at the Olympics, including playing for teams other than the U.S. They include Dolphins receiver Tyreek HillVikings receiver Justin JeffersonBengals quarterback Joe BurrowCardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (whose mother is Korean), Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton (who was born in Greece and has a Korean mother), Buccaneers receiver Mike EvansVikings running back Aaron Jones and Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (who was born in Canada).
“Hell yeah!” Hubbard told ESPN when asked if he wants to represent Canada. “I don’t know the process or anything, but I plan to still be in this league and thrive in 2028. So, if they want me to become a part of it, it would be an honor.”
Also notable: Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared earlier this year in an ad campaign with the NFL and IFAF promoting Olympic flag football, concluding the ad by saying, “It’s our turn.” And Jefferson, serving as a global flag ambassador, spoke to owners at the NFL’s spring meeting ahead of their voting on the matter. But he didn’t make any commitments to trying out for the 2028 Olympic squad.
