![\"Raia](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/RaiaBrown-standing_credit-Erin-Harwell_edit.jpg\")
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Raia Brown played flag football in high school and petitioned Sacramento State to start a team.<\/p>\n
The team will have plenty of competition. Women\u2019s flag football is among the fastest growing collegiate sports; nearly 400 colleges<\/a> will compete in women\u2019s flag football next spring, more than 130 of them at the varsity level. In January, the NCAA added flag football<\/a> to its list of emerging sports for women\u2014programs designed to expand female students\u2019 access to athletics.<\/p>\n The sport owes its rapid rise in part to the NFL\u2019s support<\/a>. The league and the New York Jets recently collaborated<\/a> with the Eastern College Athletic Conference to create the largest collegiate women\u2019s flag football league in the U.S., according to an NFL spokesperson. The Big 12 is also taking steps to become the first Power Four Football Bowl Subdivision Conference to sponsor women\u2019s flag football through its partnership with the NFL, aiming to launch in 2028.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen you have the NFL backing and underwriting flag football, that is significant,\u201d said Karen Weaver, an adjunct assistant professor at the University of Pennsylvania\u2019s Graduate School of Education. \u201cI can\u2019t think of another sport that we offer in college for women that has that kind of backing behind it.\u201d<\/p>\n She noted that some sports, such as women\u2019s rugby, have remained emerging for at least 10 years without achieving NCAA championship status, as flag football appears poised to do.<\/p>\n To gain such status, a sport must have a minimum of 40 schools sponsoring it at the varsity level and meet contest and participation requirements. The NCAA voted in May to formally recommend<\/a> that Divisions I, II and III sponsor legislation to add flag football as an NCAA championship sport, and all three have since done so, NCAA associate director of external communications Gail Dent told Inside Higher Ed. They are set to vote on the proposals in January, and if the three divisions approve the legislation, flag football will become a championship sport. \u201cIf it gets approval in January, we hope to host the first NCAA flag football championship in the spring of 2028,\u201d Dent wrote in a statement.<\/p>\n Enrollment Booster<\/p>\n For years, colleges have looked to athletics<\/a> to increase enrollment, particularly as headcounts at many institutions have fallen due to the demographic cliff<\/a> and declining public confidence<\/a> in higher ed.<\/p>\n Purdue University Northwest in Northwest Indiana, for example, has exponentially grown its student-athlete population since Director of Athletics Rick Costello joined the institution nearly 15 years ago. He told Inside Higher Ed the school had about 100 student-athletes in 2012 and by fall 2025, the number had grown to over 400.<\/p>\n \u201cOn an annual basis, that has been significant for the university,\u201d Costello said. \u201cFirst, because our student athletes are incredible students, we\u2019ve had 21 semesters in a row over a 3.0 [average] GPA. Our retention rates are incredibly strong; we\u2019re over 86\u00a0percent. And just the vibe and the spirit that our student athletes bring to campus\u2014it\u2019s been fantastic. And all this with the backdrop of the enrollment struggles of smaller universities in the Midwest.\u201d<\/p>\n Costello said it seemed \u201cnatural\u201d for Purdue Northwest to add women\u2019s flag football to its list of sports, particularly as it gains popularity in the Midwest. More than 100 high schools in Indiana now field teams, he said, and the college aims to recruit \u201cgreat students\u201d to compete.<\/p>\n \u201cIt’s allowed us to increase enrollment in the underrepresented gender within our athletics program here\u2014that being women,\u201d he said. \u201cSo we were able to add another sport with 18 female student athletes participating, and I expect that to grow to 25 this year.\u201d<\/p>\n Most Popular Stories<\/p>\n Most Popular<\/p>\n Though it\u2019s unclear how much recruiting flag football players has directly translated to tuition revenue for colleges, small liberal arts institutions in particular are looking to the sport as a recruitment tool to help boost enrollment. Weaver said it makes sense for colleges to want to get in on the sport.<\/p>\n \u201cIt doesn\u2019t cost that much to run, so why not try to attract another dozen or dozen and a half full-pay tuitions or partial pay?\u201d Weaver said. \u201cOr even just to drive your enrollment to be able to say, \u2018Okay, now I can offer this.\u2019 Plus, if you offer just for women, it sort of helps your Title IX numbers.\u201d<\/p>\n Title IX prohibits sex-based discrimination<\/a> in education programs and activities that receive federal financial assistance, so adding women\u2019s sports like flag football can help colleges ensure equity and compliance with the law.<\/p>\n The Ursuline College Women’s Flag Football team poses for a team picture in the studio.<\/p>\n A Different Game<\/p>\n Women\u2019s flag football provides athletes a safer, reimagined take on tackle football. It\u2019s played in the spring instead of the fall. And while the exact rules and terms of play<\/a> may differ slightly by league, contact is never allowed. Instead of tackling opponents, players aim to pull a flag off their belt.<\/p>\n A typical game is played 7-on-7, though teams could play with fewer depending on the size of the roster. Several college athletic directors told Inside Higher Ed their teams currently have about 15 players, but they plan to expand in the coming year.<\/p>\n For Noah Harris, the University of South Carolina Upstate\u2019s inaugural head coach of women\u2019s flag football, the sport has \u201cvery easily\u201d allowed colleges to find players eager to learn the game.<\/p>\n \u201cFor so many years, most of them, they\u2019ve been watching football with their dads and their brothers, and it\u2019s like \u2018When will we get our opportunity to play?\u2019 Now they have an opportunity, albeit not tackle, but they have an opportunity to play in the game of football. So they\u2019re excited about that,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n It\u2019s also an easy game to teach those who want to get involved, even if they haven\u2019t played before, Harris said. \u201cSome of my top players that I\u2019ve coached at the collegiate level, some of them never played flag before they played in my program, and they became incredible players,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Harris, who coached flag football at Southwestern College in Kansas for three years before joining USC Upstate for this upcoming academic year, added that student athletes in other sports can readily transfer over some of their skills.<\/p>\n \u201cYou can see the skills from basketball translate, or the skills from soccer\u2014the footwork translates,\u201d Harris told Inside Higher Ed. \u201cOr skills from softball, being able to throw and catch.\u201d<\/p>\n The sport is also relatively low cost, athletic directors told Inside Higher Ed. Many colleges have opted to use existing facilities, like a soccer field, which doesn\u2019t incur any costs. Institutions only have to pay staffing costs and equipment\u2014namely flag belts, uniforms and balls\u2014which athletic directors said don\u2019t cost much.<\/p>\n Some colleges are also cultivating alumni and other outside support for their fledgling teams.<\/p>\n Jim McLaughlin, the director of athletics at Union College, said his institution is focused on recruiting for a women\u2019s flag football team to launch<\/a> in the spring.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s about getting out there that we have the sport, that we have the offering,\u201d he said. \u201cIt’s having a lot of Zooms, having a lot of conversations, all taken care of by our head coach.\u201d<\/p>\n At the same time, administrators are looking for donors to help fund the program.<\/p>\n \u201cWe had this as part of our Giving Day for all of our sports and our entire college,\u201d he said. \u201cActually, we did receive some donations.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019m looking forward to how big it\u2019s becoming and how far it\u2019s grown, and seeing everybody excited about the start of flag football at Sac State.<\/p>\n Raia Brown<\/p>\n Olympic Dreams<\/p>\n Not all colleges that have introduced the sport are looking to recruit more students; some are simply hoping to capitalize on a burgeoning national movement.<\/p>\n While officials at Sacramento State, which enrolled<\/a> 31,307 students in fall 2025, thought introducing women\u2019s flag football \u201ccertainly would help enrollment,\u201d they were motivated primarily by soaring interest in the game, said Mark Orr, the athletic director.<\/p>\n \u201cThe sport is growing so much in the state of California,\u201d he said. \u201cWe hosted a girls\u2019 flag football high school camp, and we had over 23 high school teams join our high school camp. We\u2019ve seen that there was an interest from several local high school students to participate in sports. So I see us as more of a response to serving our current students and prospective students.\u201d<\/p>\n At least 23 states and Washington, D.C. have sanctioned girls\u2019 flag football<\/a> at the high school level. The NFL has also been a big supporter<\/a> of these teams, with several making<\/a> investments<\/a> to provide funding, equipment and programming.<\/p>\n For Raia Brown, bringing her love of flag football from high school to college was just the beginning. Now, as she gears up for Sac State\u2019s first season, she\u2019s thrilled to be competing for her club team\u2014and excited to watch the sport transition to the varsity level.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m looking forward to how big it\u2019s becoming and how far it\u2019s grown, and seeing everybody that\u2019s been excited about the start of flag football at Sac State,\u201d she said. \u201cThat\u2019s really just pushing me to want to train every day and get better, and it\u2019s showing me like this is the real deal, and I can\u2019t wait for it.\u201d<\/p>\n![\"The](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/Ursuline_flag_football_team_photo_edit.jpg\")
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