{"id":734341,"date":"2026-02-06T22:05:17","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:05:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734341\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T22:05:17","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T22:05:17","slug":"super-bowl-lx-gives-flag-football-the-spotlight-ahead-of-2028-la-olympics-debut","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/734341\/","title":{"rendered":"Super Bowl LX gives flag football the spotlight ahead of 2028 LA Olympics debut"},"content":{"rendered":"

As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots get ready to push, tackle and elbow their way to victory in Super Bowl<\/a> LX, the NFL has been showcasing the contactless version of the sport leading up to the big game on Sunday in Santa Clara<\/a>.<\/p>\n

With 20 million players, flag football is one of the world\u2019s fastest-growing sports and a growth area for the NFL and its international counterpart, the International Federation of American Football. It\u2019s set to make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, and NFL players will be allowed to take part.<\/p>\n

The NFL, which has invested heavily to expand flag football in the U.S. and abroad, planned no less than seven unique flag football-related events this week in the Bay Area, from the Pro Bowl Games to an under-13 international championship.<\/p>\n

Beth Spicer, a middle school student from Ireland, traveled to San Francisco to represent Ireland in that match on Wednesday \u2014 the first time the co-ed tournament was held during a Super Bowl week, according to the NFL.<\/p>\n

Keep up with LAist.<\/p>\n

If you’re enjoying this article, you’ll love our daily newsletter, The LA Report. Each weekday, catch up on the 5 most pressing stories to start your morning in 3 minutes or less. <\/p>\n

\u201cI only learned how to throw a ball four months ago, and I just fell in love with it,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s not really like any other games. You\u2019re getting tagged at the hips, so you have to move them. It\u2019s unique, but it\u2019s really good.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back home, the most popular sports include Gaelic football, hurling and soccer, according to the Ireland team\u2019s head coach, Rob Cooper. He said the flag football program at his school got underway after the NFL reached out, offering free training and equipment.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aWe took it up, and the kids have loved every moment of it since then,\u201d Cooper said. \u201cI have no doubt that flag football, especially in Ireland, will continue to grow massively over the next couple of years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Flag football is a less gear-intensive version of traditional tackle football. Instead of physical confrontations, players must strip a length of fabric dangling from either side of a ball carrier\u2019s waist to stop their forward progress.<\/p>\n

The lack of contact means players aren\u2019t required to wear helmets or pads, and in the version set to be played at the Olympics, the games are shorter, faster and have only five players per side, instead of 11.<\/p>\n

The NFL started its first international flag football program in Mexico in 2000, according to Afia Law, who heads international flag football development for the league.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aIt\u2019s all about creating access to the game for young adults and girls, regardless of the country you are in, regardless of your background, creating an opportunity for you to access the game,\u201d Law said.<\/p>\n

The NFL has ramped up efforts to support flag football in 15 countries, including Australia, Spain and Brazil, where the league is growing its reach with on-the-road<\/a> NFL games next season.<\/p>\n

Law said flag football\u2019s Olympic debut will be \u201cabsolutely huge.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve had people that are passionate about this game playing around the world for so long, and now we finally get to see them on the world stage playing in the game that they\u2019re fantastic at,\u201d Law said.<\/p>\n

Kodie Fuller, an NFL and IFAF flag football ambassador from Australia, is excited that her sport is getting international recognition at the Olympics. She grew up playing traditional tackle football but transitioned to playing flag football three years ago.<\/p>\n

\u201c\u200aAs I got a little bit older, not taking hits every weekend definitely felt a lot nicer on my body,\u201d Fuller said.<\/p>\n

Now an Olympic hopeful herself, the 29-year-old said the Olympic debut will encourage more young athletes, especially young women, to get into the sport.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe can sell the Olympic dream to all of them, because it is a very real possibility now,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Flag football is also making inroads in the U.S. In December, all 32 NFL clubs voted to invest a collective $32 million to develop and launch a professional flag football league<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Last spring, the Atlantic East Conference launched the first-ever NCAA women\u2019s flag football season. Since the 2023-2024 school year, flag football has been a statewide-sanctioned sport for high school girls in California, although not for boys.<\/p>\n

Watching the under-13 international flag football tournament at Moscone Center on Wednesday, Fuller said her \u201cjaw was on the floor.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cThe talent that is coming through is out of this world,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"As the Seattle Seahawks and New England Patriots get ready to push, tackle and elbow their way to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":734342,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[4530,7,4238,8259,505],"class_list":["post-734341","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-flag-football","tag-football","tag-la","tag-olympics","tag-super-bowl"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116025959900214138","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734341","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=734341"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/734341\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/734342"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=734341"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=734341"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=734341"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}