Flag Football: Will the variant make the Olympics before the original?

George Johnston IV

November 22, 2022

Football has definitely evolved to be America’s favorite sport, in my opinion. But with its variants, and outreach to the world, American football might just make the Olympics.

Flag football is the most likely variant to make it to the Olympics. Now, before it makes it to the Olympics, it first has to make it to the World Games, which it has. The World Games are an international sporting event that feature major sports that are not included in the Olympics, like bowling. Flag football has been in the World Games once.

Now, the NFL, a male-dominated, tackle football league has collaborated with the International Federation of American Football, to create Vision28, a coordinated effort to help flag football be included as a sport in the 2028 Olympics, and to develop flag football in countries other than the United States.

According to Troy Vincent, a co-chair member of Vision28 and the executive vice president of football operations for the NFL. “ Regardless of gender, age, class, ability, disability or body type, there's a place for everyone in the sport.”

This shows that the sport of flag football is versatile enough to be included as an Olympic and Paralympic sport. Besides the fact that basically anyone can play, the sport is relatively cheap in terms of equipment, since in a no-contact sport, you definitely don’t need helmets or pads. And the need for field goal posts is not needed, so that saves a lot more money.

The sport has been popularized over the world in almost all continents. Many players are from 5-17 years of age, which could lead to the sport becoming one in the Youth Olympics.

Finally, flag football lessens the chance of injury for a player, since there is little to no contact, and a player is “tackled” when one of their 3 flags is pulled off. Now, with my experience in flag football, it is an inclusive sport with no barriers, and you can make many friends along the season. It can also be a first step to playing tackle football.

Setting aside all of these pros and little to no cons, I think that flag football is a great contender to be a new Olympic sport. Its barriers are limited, which makes it an open sport. Flag football definitely has a great case for LA28.