NFL, ESPN return to women's flag football as participation grows

While fans and money are flowing into women's sports this year, where is the interest in football leagues? Well, Sunday night it was in Frisco, Texas.

Hours after the WNBA's Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese captured national attention on ESPN – and NWSL action followed on ESPN2 – the Mississippi Lady Panthers won the fifth annual Women's National Football Conference championship game in front of thousands of fans at the Ford Center Dallas Cowboys.

New sponsorships and digital media deals have helped the league grow in recent years, but CEO Odessa Jenkins is still fighting for investment to ensure the WNFC capitalizes on an opportunity that may not arise again.

Women's football is not new. Like softball, the sport drew thousands of people back the tirthies, and in the 1970s a new competition appeared. But as men's soccer captures an increasing share of sports fans' attention, women remain largely on the sidelines, even as other physical sports (rugby, lacrosse and hockey) create a niche for female competitors. The WNFC is among a number of growing groups that are changing that fact.

The flag factor

Women's football faces unique challenges. The team size and equipment requirements make it much more intensive than other activities. Just getting quality field access was a challenge. Then there's the physicality issue, which has also put off some parents of boys.

on the other hand, has few of these limitations. And it is exploding. The women's flag will debut alongside the men's flag at the 2028 Summer Olympics, further increasing interest.

According to USA Football, the number of 6- to 12-year-old girls playing flag football has increased more than 200% since 2014 to more than 100,000.

“What we've seen at all levels, from youth all the way up, is that girls and women want to play the game,” said Eric Mayes, director of USA Football high performance and national teams.

Next month, the NFL and ESPN are teaming up to broadcast a new NFL Flag Championship competition in Canton, Ohio. It will feature more than 280 teams with players ranging in age from 9 to 18, sort of like football’s version of the Little League World Series. ESPN says it plans to air girls’ games as often as boys’ games on its networks.

“I’m really excited about the opportunity for people across the country and people in other countries to see what flag football looks like and see how competitive and elite these players are,” said new NFL VP and head of flag football Stephanie Kwok.

More than 25 states have made girls flag football a sanctioned high school sport or are conducting pilot programs before doing so, and efforts are underway to gain NCAA recognition as well. The number of girls playing on high school teams increased by 86% between 2019 and 2023. The sport has already broken out at the participation level. And at the pro level, the American Flag Football League has plans to launch a women's league in 2025.

“For young girls, it increases participation when they see that clear path,” says DAZN co-CEO of women’s sports Esmeralda Negron. “They say, ‘Oh, I can go to college, I can play in high school.’ It fosters that passion, development and dedication to the game.”

The WNFC has also embraced the flag. The league announced a partnership with Gridiron Football in May and hosted a flag championship hours before the tackle teams faced off Sunday.

“Flag changed everything for us,” Jenkins said. Her goal now? “To build the full pipeline, from a three-year flag player to a 12-year tackle player, to wherever you want to go,” she said.

However, others fear that the flag's growth could hinder the development of women's football. Limiting women to the newer version of the sport could limit spectator potential. Tackle football would also provide more roster spots at the college level, where black women are still underrepresented.

Sam Gordon appeared in an NFL commercial during the Super Bowl in 2012 as a 9-year-old after playing against all-male tackle teams. But with no clear development path available, Gordon eventually focused on football, playing collegiately for Columbia University.

In 2017, she and her father sued the Utah high school activities association, arguing that it violated Title IX rules by not offering girls soccer as an interscholastic sport. Three school districts reached a settlement in the case in 2023, promising to promote girls' sports — including soccer — and survey students about possible activities of interest.

“I'm not going to give up my fight for tackle football,” she said in an interview.

Gordon has since worked with Under Armor as an ambassador and camp leader on the flag side.

“It's really cool to see this investment from these big companies, where we used to fight for anything,” she said. “It's great to see other people caring… people outside of ourselves who want to push women's football forward.”

Tackling investments

Women's soccer fans have looked at the millions of dollars spent on the value of fledgling men's tackle leagues — the AFFL, USFL, XFL, and so on — and wondered when they would get the chance to test their hypothesis that fans would rally around high-level female athletes.

“One of the obstacles with football is that it is so concrete Men game – it's been that way for a long time,” Gordon said. “I think we've started to break down those barriers.”

Jenkins has been open about the league's interest in adding money. At the top of the league's website is an “Invest in WNFC” banner, which links to a two-page spread pitch sheet asking for $1.5 million in seed money, while WNFC will have to compete against other recently launched leagues such as LOVB, the PLL and the PWHL.

“We're just like any other company: you run for five years on a cash basis, your back starts to itch, you get cold sweats,” she said. “It's not like we'll go bankrupt if we don't get the investment. But we're definitely going to miss a wave, and I think we will crazy to miss the wave in women's sports right now.”

In the meantime, she continues to run the league on a tight budget. Players are not yet being paid and the league office consists of eight executives. WNFC's creative director and head of brand marketing, Erin Harville, also works for the Portland Trail Blazers. The league's president is Elizabeth Jenkins, a former leader of Charles Schwab who is also Odessa's wife.

“Every dollar that goes into this league is redistributed toward the teams' costs,” Odessa said. “None of us get a salary, nothing like that.”

Many of the sixteen teams operate as non-profit organizations, with a for-profit division that owns intellectual property. Adidas has supported the league since its inception in 2019, while streaming platforms Caffeine and DAZN have recently signed deals. The pitch sheet mentions revenue of $800,000 in 2023.

Jennifer Moody, the owner of the Tampa Bay Inferno franchise in another tackle league, the Women's Football Alliance, has long done similar budgeting math. A former player herself, Moody founded the team after moving to the area in 2009.

However, financing the program has become increasingly difficult given increased travel and operating costs in today's economy.

Moody, who also works as the YMCA's administrative director, said her main motivation is the physical and mental benefits the Inferno provides its players. But she also hopes the team will become a financial asset.

“There are now a large number of us who have put more than two decades of personal and financial time and investment into the sport,” Moody said. “Would it be nice to get some return on that? Absolute.”

It was exciting for Moody to see money flow into other fledgling sports leagues. “But there is also frustration and a bit of jealousy,” she added.

With financial support, she believes the sky is the limit for women's football. But for now, Moody and other believers remain focused on the grass in front of them.