LA 2028 Olympics Brings Football's Future to the Global Stage
The four years leading up to the introduction of Olympic flag football could prove pivotal in shaping the landscape of tackle football for future generations.
As Paris hands the torch of the Summer Olympics off to Los Angeles, so begins the long run to the goal line of the first-ever football competition at the Games. The introduction of flag football on the LA 2028 stage isn’t a beginning for this take on the sport, though: It marks a culmination in what has been a fast-growing movement at the global epicenter of the gridiron.
That the Olympics’ return to the United States ushers in the first-ever incarnation of Olympic football is appropriate enough. Football bypassed baseball as America’s Pastime, by my estimation, at some point in the 2000s. If I had to point to an exact moment, the months immediately following 9/11 marked the last hurrah of Major League Baseball as sport’s ultimate reflection of Americana with the incredible Diamondbacks-Yankees World Series.
An equally enthralling Super Bowl XXXVI — with Tom Brady becoming a cultural icon as he led the underdog New England Patriots past the St. Louis Rams, all against a background of nationalism cranked to 11 — unofficially kicked off the Age of the NFL.
For as popular as football became in the last quarter-century, with its grip on the zeitgeist showing no signs of loosening, the idea of a globalized game that could be part of the Olympics has always seemed ridiculous. The NFL has prioritized expanding its presence into Europe over the last 10 years, and some countries have their own organized pro and college federations.
International talent even has made a not-insignificant impact on America’s college football landscape1.
But America is and has for decades been so much more deeply invested in football, an Olympic competition between the best in the U.S. and top players from the world’s few other football-playing nations would make the Dream Team’s basketball beatdowns of all comers in 1992 look like nailbiters in comparison. That might still be the case with Olympic flag football’s competitive balance. But the barrier for entry into the game is lower for flag football, with similarly lower stakes when removing some of the physicality.
Factor in that physicality, and the competitive mismatch in a tackle competition would manifest in a visual the IOC understandably wants no part of: A bevy of athletes stretchered off the playing surface with catastrophic injuries.
Avoiding a real-life scene akin to The Simpsons depiction of boxing at the 1984 Olympics — coincidentally, the last Games held in Los Angeles — is presumably a top priority when deciding which new sports to add.
The sport has an inherent violence to it that makes Olympic organizers squeamish. It’s the same reason MMA, which could actually field a compelling and competitive collection of international representatives, won’t be a realistic addition to the Games for the foreseeable future2.
Fear of serious injury in football is real and transcends borders, and is probably more prevalent in our football-obsessed nation than it is anywhere else. It’s not exactly a well-guarded secret that, while football commands ever-increasing media-distribution revenue and the sport becomes further entrenched in American culture, fewer Americans are actually playing tackle football.
For this reason, a not uncommon parallel I have read and heard repeatedly in the past decade is that it’s a modern-day gladiatorial game: Violent spectacle a select few without other options perform for the entertainment of the masses. That’s a gross oversimplification and is frankly incorrect. Still, there is an undeniable and widespread sentiment driving down participation in football. To pretend otherwise is as disconnected from reality as dismissing tackle football as a gladiatorial exhibition.
Football’s future beyond the Olympics relies on the ability of those leading the sport adapting to declines in participation. Enter flag football.
Flag football isn’t exactly new, but this take on America’s favorite sport has seen a significant uptick in organized play over the last half-decade. Eight states sanction varisty flag football for high school girls, including four of the deepest recruiting pipelines for prep tackle football recruits: Alabama, California, Florida and Georgia. Alaska, Arizona, Nevada and New York round it out.
Women’s flag football is also a sanctioned collegiate varsity sport at the NAIA level. Nineteen universities fielded programs in the 2024 season, which culminated in the game’s first dynasty — Ottawa University of Kansas — winning its fourth national championship.
The Braves have monopolized the NAIA title since its introduction in 2021. Not surprisingly, Ottawa coach Liz Sowers was tabbed as an assistant coach for the USA National Team in 2023 with four Braves on the squad.
It’s anecdotal, but parks throughout my community are packed on weekend nights throughout the summer and fall with Friday Night Lights league games. A generation of girls are playing flag football in my corner of the world, and I suspect participation at the high school varsity level will grow exponentially in the four years leading up to the Los Angeles Olympics.
In turn, women’s flag football could be a viable offering for NCAA athletic departments. I am less confident in that development than I am in seeing many more states add it to sanctioned high school sports — the Third Circuit’s opinion on July 11 determining that college football players can be deemed university employees may have a ripple effect that results in athletic departments sponsoring far fewer varsity sports, not adding more. But that’s a topic for another time.
Whether or not it becomes an NCAA sport in the near-future, girls and women’s flag football is on the percipice of a boom. And it’s getting help from some of the biggest names from the tackle-football world. Drew Brees is among the leading banner-carriers for flag football’s growth, for girls and boys alike.
Brees founded his own youth league — Football ‘N’ America — that also operates in my area. Dropping them off at school on a Friday morning, one would see dozens of children wearing their team jerseys for that evening’s game, representing two different leagues popular enough to fill out numerous rosters across age groups from 4 through junior high. One would never guess participation in football is on the decline in the U.S.
Flag football provides an opportunity for children whose parents worry about the potential physical toll of the tackle game to still participate. It also offers an entry point for learning crucial fundamentals that could make the sport safer as kids transition to tackle in high school.
Furthermore, flag football’s growth may well blossom into an alternative all its own. I noted my two sons playing flag football; for the younger of the two, ever moving over to tackle simply isn’t an option. He was born with multicystic dysplastic kidney disease, which has prevented one of his kidneys from ever functioning at more than 30 percent.
The disease prevents him from ever pursuing certain physical activities. He could never play tackle football, even if my wife would allow it. But flag football gives him an opportunity to try a sport he would not otherwise be able.
With the spotlight the Olympics will provide, and with the excitement for its introduction over the next years, my hope is that die-hard fans of tackle football learn to embrace flag football. The games can and should coexist, and their ability to do so may well be key to maintaining football’s place at the center of American culture while expanding the sport globally.
This feature I wrote in 2021 spotlighted the international recruits in just one conference, the Coastal Athletic Association. There are dozens of foreign imports around the college game in 2024.
Canadian-born former UFC champion Georges St. Pierre invoked the Olympics’ roots in ancient Greece when he said MMA “used to be” part of the Games. I appreciate the shoutout of the Games’ history, but quite a bit has changed since 776 B.C.E. What’s more, I can’t imagine Dana White usurpring the Olympic spotlight to cut scathing promos on Bronze Medal winners being a good thing for the Games.