{"id":844767,"date":"2026-03-31T11:49:14","date_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:49:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844767\/"},"modified":"2026-03-31T11:49:14","modified_gmt":"2026-03-31T11:49:14","slug":"big-12-nfl-team-up-in-hopes-of-adding-womens-flag-football","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/844767\/","title":{"rendered":"Big 12, NFL team up in hopes of adding women\u2019s flag football"},"content":{"rendered":"<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">The Big 12 is taking steps toward becoming the first FBS conference to sponsor women\u2019s flag football, beginning in 2028 with a minimum of six teams, Sports Business Journal has learned. An official announcement is set for Tuesday. The efforts, which remain in the exploratory phase, are being spearheaded by Commissioner Brett Yormark and Chief Football &amp; Competition Officer Scott Draper from the conference side, along with an intimate assist from the NFL.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">\u201cWe\u2019re trying to meet the moment,\u201d Draper told SBJ. \u201cOur goal here is growth. Our goal is to advance Big 12 membership opportunities and growth for [the conference]. We see this as an opportunity to do that.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">The Big 12 and NFL previously <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2025\/12\/05\/nfl-big-12-announce-collaboration-effort\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2025\/12\/05\/nfl-big-12-announce-collaboration-effort\/\">announced a partnership in December<\/a> that was expected to include collaborations around technology, officiating and, of course, flag football.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">More recently, the relationship featured NFL EVP\/Football Operations Troy Vincent speaking with Big 12 presidents and ADs earlier this year specifically about flag football.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">\u201cWe think this is a natural extension of what we\u2019re currently doing to grow in the Big 12, then the partnership with the NFL comes into play,\u201d Draper said. \u201cIt\u2019s well documented what they\u2019re doing around flag &#8230; It really helps with their help and focus on flag, with our focus on flag, we\u2019ll be able to really accelerate the growth of the sport not only at the collegiate level, but at the high school level.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">That the Big 12 is exploring flag football comes after <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/01\/16\/what-the-ncaas-flag-football-vote-means-for-the-next-generation-of-women-athletes\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer nofollow noopener\" title=\"https:\/\/www.sportsbusinessjournal.com\/Articles\/2026\/01\/16\/what-the-ncaas-flag-football-vote-means-for-the-next-generation-of-women-athletes\/\">the NCAA added it as an emerging sport in January<\/a>, while it\u2019s seen as a sport with major growth potential.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">There are already 20 million players worldwide and more than four million youth participants in the U.S. alone (a 50% increase from 2020). It is also offered at the high school level across 39 states, while participation there has climbed 60% year-over-year.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">Men\u2019s and women\u2019s flag football, too, will debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in L.A.<\/p>\n<p class=\"c-paragraph sections-colleges \">\u201cThis effort is really an extension of us doubling down on growing opportunities for women at the collegiate level,\u201d Draper said. \u201c&#8230; This is just an extension of that growth mindset and the opportunity for us to be innovative and first.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Big 12 is taking steps toward becoming the first FBS conference to sponsor women\u2019s flag football, beginning&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":844768,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2026],"tags":[3722,331,7,9380],"class_list":{"0":"post-844767","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-football","8":"tag-big-12","9":"tag-college-football","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-womens-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116323638927686975","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844767","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=844767"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/844767\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/844768"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=844767"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=844767"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=844767"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}