“After a successful season last year, the Verrado Vipers girls flag football team isn’t just looking to repeat history — they’re aiming to make it,” writes Jacob Ceron in the student newspaper at Verrado High School in Buckeye, Arizona.
From a promo for the sport by the Baltimore Ravens (link below)Flag football is increasingly popular for girls in US high schools, doubling in participation in just one year, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, and is even featured for men in the upcoming Olympic Games.
States already on board include Florida, Georgia, California, New York, Illinois, Alabama, Alaska, Colorado, Nevada, Mississippi, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, Hawaii, with Washington and Ohio added in 2025. (Exact lists vary a bit by source as new states come online, but NFL and team pages now cite 17 states.)
Calling attention to Verrado’s place in a national athletics trend, Jacob quoted head coach Terry Barnes as saying, “This year, we’re really looking forward to the continued growth of the flag football program. It’s exciting to watch our players progress so quickly in both their skills and understanding of the game. … It’s a new and quickly growing sport, not just in high school, but also in college,” he said.
Many states are running pilot programs, backed by NFL clubs. Texas, for example, discussed it this summer but hasn’t officially sanctioned the sport yet, the Houston Chronicle reports.
Even in states where the sport isn’t officially sanctioned by the state’s high school athletic association, NFL teams, such as the Baltimore Ravens and Chicago Bears, are getting behind the movement. And it’s taking hold. In California, in just the second season, girls’ flag jumped 84% to about 19,900 participants; it now ranks seventh among girls’ sports statewide. And in New York, the number of teams grew from about 50 to more than 170 in two seasons, helped by NFL team support.
We can expect the map to continue filling in through 2026 as pilots convert to sanctioned events and NFHS rules go live.
