Days after the NCAA added it to its Emerging Sports for Women program, a Power 4 school is launching a varsity women’s flag football team.
Nebraska announced Friday it’s adding a women’s flag football program as its 25th varsity sport, becoming the first school from a Power 4 conference to do so. The Cornhuskers said in a statement that they plan to hire the team’s first head coach by July, and aim to begin playing games in the 2028 season — the same year the sport will make its Olympic debut at the Summer Games in Los Angeles.
“This is a banner day for Nebraska Athletics and for women’s sports,” Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said in a statement. “Flag football is one of the nation’s fastest growing sports and has exploded in popularity at the youth, high school and collegiate level.”
With the addition of Nebraska, there are now 10 Division I NCAA schools who have announced their intentions to start a varsity women’s flag football program. The others are Mount St. Mary’s, UT Arlington, Alabama State, Cal Poly, Fairleigh Dickinson, Long Island University, Mercyhurst, Mississippi Valley State, and North Alabama.
Last year, the NCAA reported at least 65 schools across all divisions planned to sponsor women’s flag football at the varsity or club level. Last spring, the Division III Atlantic East Conference was the first to play a full varsity season of the sport and host a conference tournament, with Marymount winning the championship.
Flag football is the first varsity sport Nebraska has added since 2013, when it began its beach volleyball program. Five other Big Ten schools have, or plan to start, club teams for women’s flag football.
One of the institutions pushing the growth of flag football is the NFL, with all 32 of its teams supporting youth and college programs within their markets. Troy Vincent, the NFL’s Executive Vice President of Football Operations, called Nebraska “pioneers” for adding the sport and said in a statement it “marks a groundbreaking moment for collegiate athletics.”
The Eastern College Athletic Conference announced it will launch a women’s flag football league as well with a $1 million investment from the New York Jets through the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation. The league will begin play next month.
Women’s flag football is a spring sport and Nebraska says it will play 12 to 24 games in a season. The Cornhuskers are hoping to have 15 players on the roster by this fall, then increase the roster size to 20 to 25 players by the time they start playing games in 2028. Nebraska said it’s possible the team will play some unofficial games in 2027.
Last spring, as part of its Husker Games, Nebraska fielded a team against NAIA Midland University in an exhibition. Following that game, Dannen alluded to the possibility of the Cornhuskers adding the sport.
“Eventually we’re going to have another women’s sport here at Nebraska from a Title IX standpoint, and I think women’s flag football is one of those sports that — I wanted to see it live myself. And we had a lot of fans come and watch it,” Dannen said on the Husker Radio Network. “I think it’s something we should all keep a close eye on with women’s flag football.”
Before legislation is considered for women’s flag football to reach NCAA championship status, the sport has to be sponsored at the varsity level by at least 40 schools. Those teams would also have to meet minimums in games played and player participation before the sport sees the launch of its own NCAA Tournament.
According to the National Sporting Goods Association, flag football was the sport that grew the most at the youth level in 2024, with participation increasing by 21%. Flag football is now offered at a high school level in 38 states.