Big Ten athletic director teases potential addition of women’s flag football

Nebraska AD Troy Dannen said folks should keep “a close eye” on women’s flag football after hosting a contest at the Husker Games.

Women’s flag football could be the next sport to take the NCAA by storm.

A handful of Division I institutions — like Mount St. Mary’s and Alabama State — have added varsity teams, and some conferences at the Division II and III level are taking their first steps towards playing full seasons. Last month, the Division III Atlantic East was the first NCAA league to play a full season of women’s flag football and cap it off with a conference championship.

The sport has the support of the NFL and will be in the Olympics in 2028 when the Summer Games come to Los Angeles. Meanwhile, the NCAA has recommended adding it to its Emerging Sports for Women program.

In the Power 4 in Division I, there’s at least one athletic director that seems to be seriously considering adding the sport at the varsity level.

As part of its new Husker Games — an event to replace the spring football game — Nebraska hosted an exhibition flag football contest with some of its student athletes taking on Midland University, an NAIA school with a varsity program. Despite talented Nebraska quarterback Dylan Raiola playing a handful of snaps, the much more experienced Midland women won handily, 60-0, on April 26.

While the score was lopsided, at least one person in the 85,458-seat Memorial Stadium was enamored with the game and paying close attention: Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen.

In an interview with the Huskers Radio Network’s Sports Nightly last week, Dannen hinted that Nebraska could add a varsity women’s flag football program in the near future.

“Flag football is really being pushed by the NFL. And a lot of states have sanctioned it at the high school level. Eventually we’re going to have another women’s sport here at Nebraska from a Title IX standpoint, and I think women’s flag football is one of those sports that — I wanted to see it live myself. And we had a lot of fans come and watch it,” Dannen said. “I think it’s something we should all keep a close eye on with women’s flag football.”

Currently, according to the NCAA, about 65 schools have flag football teams at the varsity or club level, but to be considered for championship status at least 40 NCAA programs will need to sponsor women’s flag football as a varsity sport within 10 years. Those 40 teams would also have to meet minimums in games played and player participation.

Right now, there’s just a few schools in the Division I ranks who will sponsor women’s flag football at the varsity level next year, but none of them are in the ACC, SEC, Big Ten or Big 12.

Should Dannen and Nebraska act on their interests in the sport quickly, the Cornhuskers could be the first to launch a team in the Power 4 ranks.