Women's flag football is having its moment with NCAA DIII institutions
How the NFL, enrollment hopes, and the Olympics are fueling the trend
First, it was esports. Then it was women’s wrestling, and, to a lesser extent, STUNT. Now, it appears to be women’s flag football’s turn to be the hot intercollegiate sport for universities to sponsor. Twenty-six NCAA Division III programs have been added since mid-2023 alone. Throw in an additional two at the NCAA Division I level and six in NCAA Division II, and we have nearly 40 new programs in a short period of time.
In fact, since I started tracking in March 2020, despite every other sport having a three-plus year head start, women’s flag football is the fourth-most added Division III sport, behind women’s wrestling (51), esports (29), and men’s volleyball (25). My tracking chart shows the meteoric rise of the sport over the past few months at the D3 level.
As was the case with beach volleyball and ice hockey before it, women’s wrestling, and its 51 new programs, was identified by the NCAA as an Emerging Sport for Women. Flag football is NOT on that list. So, why, then, are NCAA member institutions suddenly interested in women’s flag football at a rate faster than any other sport?
Is it an enrollment growth play, as Mount St. Mary’s University admits? Maybe.
Is it a Title IX play to counter the increased scholarships going to men’s football post-House? Probably.
Is it because flag football will be showcased in the upcoming 2028 Olympic Games. I guess.
Or, is it merely as simple as following the deep fiscal pockets and marketing muscle of the National Football League? It certainly appears like it.
Quinnipiac University women’s rugby head coach Becky Carlson authored a highly insightful LinkedIn post this past May in which she not only outlined the Emerging Sports for Women process, but also discussed her effort to ask NCAA President Charlie Baker directly about the relationship between the NCAA, the NFL and other corporate partners. (To hear from Carlson directly about this, including her perspective on the four bullets above, listen to her May 31, 2024 podcast with Dr. Ellen Staurowsky of Ithaca College.)
Carlson makes the case that the NCAA’s support of women’s flag football is about preserving the status quo for big time football, and aiding the sport’s growth at grassroots levels, which she notes have been declining. In this way, flag football is a Trojan horse, designed to deflect attention away from larger, structural problems with the football complex. And in so doing, flag football is circumventing the traditional process for growing women’s sports such as triathlon, rugby, STUNT, and equestrian.
In reinforcing her points, Carlson shared a screenshot of a communication from the NCAA’s Felicia Martin in support of (pleading with?) institutions to add women’s flag football. Martin cites, among several data points, a survey by D3.Ticker from April 29, 2024 in which flag football was mentioned frequently as a sport that schools were considering. (Disclosure: At the time this survey was published, I was a contributor to Athletic Director U. and the Ticker families). That screenshot of those survey results is reproduced below the NCAA screenshot.
Note how quickly the NCAA employee cites the Olympics and the NFL. What is not mentioned in the NCAA communication, is how many other sports were being considered in the D3.Ticker poll. The actual n of the responses, and size of the green pie wedge reflecting women’s flag football, don’t suggest that women’s flag football has that much momentum when compared to all of the other sports.
Whatever the reason(s) the NCAA is suddenly interested in growing women’s flag football, the fact is 2025 will be historic as the Division III Atlantic East Conference, in partnership with the NFL and RCX Sports, becomes the first NCAA conference to sponsor a championship for varsity women’s flag football. Yes, the conference sponsored a title in 2024, but only for four universities. The 2025 season features an amalgamation of four full Atlantic East members (Centenary University, Immaculata University, Marymount University, and Neumann University), and affiliates Eastern University, Holy Family University (a Division II school), and Penn State Schuylkill. Marywood University, another full Atlantic East member, announced it will join in 2026.
And the growth at the D3 level just keeps coming. Montclair State University recently announced it would effectively trade the 70 roster spots (also referred to as enrollment) from its men’s and women’s lacrosse program for a women’s flag football team next fall. Elmira College cut five sports in the first 18 months following the pandemic, only to reinstate two (men’s and women’s lacrosse) and add women’s flag football. All three sports, coincidentally, are potentially high roster sports. This is of critical importance for a school that, according to the 2022-23 EADA report, had only 586 undergraduates, 48% of whom were athletes. These sports will almost assuredly move Elmira beyond 50% athletes. If you are a regular reader, you know what I think about percentages that high.
As dramatic as women’s flag football rise may seem, the truth is the sport’s intercollegiate roots began with the NAIA which embraced the sport years ago. Ottawa University, a private Christian school, can be found just off Interstate 35, halfway between Emporia, Kansas and the southwestern suburbs of Kansas City. It is also home to the NAIA’s juggernaut, four-time national champion Ottawa Braves. Head coach Liz Sowers has amassed a 65-8 overall record, including 33-1 in the Kansas Collegiate Athletic Conference. Together with her assistant coach and twin sister, Katie Sowers (yes, that Katie Sowers who coached for the San Francisco 49ers in the Super Bowl), they have landed four players on the USA Football National Team.
But can a sport become a major college sport if it is not embraced by the Power 4 conference member schools? Consider the University of Iowa women’s wrestling program which cruised to another NWCA National Duals title this past weekend. The Hawkeyes won eight out of 10 matches to defeat DIII program, North Central, for the title. Iowa is the only P4 school to sponsor women’s wrestling. It has a perfect 29-0 record since debuting the women’s program in Fall 2023. How does it help the sport grow if there is, literally, one dominant program?
With none of the P4 institutions running to add women’s flag football, which school will emerge as the national power? And, if it is a small, Division III liberal arts institution in eastern Pennsylvania, or a private Christian school in the wheat fields of Kansas, will anyone on a national level pay attention?