Flag football could be coming to the Olympics as soon as 2028. The International Olympic Committee will begin voting later this week on which of five proposed new sports will be allowed into the 2028 Olympic games in Los Angeles. One of those proposals is to add flag football to the slate of competitions, according to the Associated Press. Backing flag football’s bid to join the Olympics is the NFL, which has been trying to spread the game of American football abroad for the better part of the last two decades. Since 2007, the NFL has scheduled between one and four regular season games in England each year (besides 2020). From 2007 through 2015, all of the NFL’s international games took place at Wembley Stadium in London, drawing crowds of more than 75,000 people each year. Since then, the NFL has expanded its International Series to include regular season games in Mexico and Germany. According to the International Federation of American Football, the “Standard Style” of flag football is five-on-five, which is the format the IOC is considering. Rather than tackling offensive players to complete a play, defenders pull a standardized flag — roughly 15 inches long by two inches wide — off of a belt worn by each player. In this style of football, there are no offensive or defensive linemen on either team, and games take place on a field that is 50 yards long and 25 yards wide. Rosters have a 15-player maximum, and all teams only have players of the same gender. Each team gets four downs to attempt to cross midfield for a new set of downs. An unsuccessful set of downs gives the ball back to the defense on its own 5-yard line. An interception gives the defense the ball at the spot the play ends following the interception. Teams are allowed to run the ball anywhere on the field besides the five-yard areas directly bordering the end zone. Jumping and diving as the ball-carrier in any context is illegal. Each team’s defense can have a maximum of two blitzers that may rush the quarterback directly so long as all parts of their bodies are more than seven yards from the line of scrimmage. If flag football gets accepted into the Olympics, it would be debuted in the 2028 Summer Olympics in LA. NBC Universal will hold a contract with the Olympics to have the Olympics filmed and broadcasted on TV.
