The NFL wants flag football to be an Olympic sport
doubledragon
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This is very interesting, the NFL wants flag football to be a sport at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
NFL has 'ultimate goal' to make flag football Olympic sport, potentially by 2028
The NFL has for years attempted to bolster its international audience, playing international games every year in London since 2007 and every year in Mexico City in 2016.
The league has even announced an "international series" of games in 2022, with three games being played in the U.K., one in Mexico and another in Germany. But, as NFL vice president of football operations Troy Vincent sees it, the future of American football on the international stage isn't in the NFL.
It's in the Olympic Games, played in the form of flag football.
Vincent, speaking to the Associated Press, said the NFL's "ultimate goal" was to make flag football an Olympic sport, potentially as soon as the 2028 Los Angeles Games. He claimed it would be an easier international export for men and women than traditional American football.
"When we talk about the future of the game of football, it is, no question, flag,” Vincent told the AP (via ProFootballTalk). "When I’ve been asked over the last 24 months, in particular, what does the next 100 years look like when you look at football, not professional football, it’s flag. It’s the inclusion and the true motto of 'Football for all.' There is a place in flag football for all."
Of course, introducing the concept of flag football on an international stage could potentially create an appetite — or increase it — for the NFL product. The International Federation of American Football in 2015 unsuccessfully applied for American football to be an Olympic sport in the 2020 Olympics (held in the 2021 calendar year in Tokyo).
The sport already has a foothold in the Special Olympics USA Games, which were hosted in Orlando, Fla., this year from June 5-11. Moreover, flag football is being introduced for the first time in this year's World Games in Birmingham, Ala.
Per Vincent, the NFL sees that as an important first step to being recognized as an Olympic sport.
Comments
This is ridiculous, no one is going to watch flag football, if I want to watch flag football I'll just tune in to the Pro-Bowl every year.
First thought after reading that headline was it sounds like the NFL is hoping to poach some international players if this ends up happening. Forget the Olympics and just try sponsoring some youth football leagues across the world.
Eric
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If Flag Football becomes an Olympic Sport and it is combined with Rhythmic Gymnastics so that the athletes of both sports compete with each other at the same time I would watch that event with great interest.
I do not know how one would successfully merge these two sports, but if someone who is a lot smarter than me could pull it off it would make for must see TV.
The way the rules are stacked against defenses in the NFL these days sometimes it feels like the NFL is heading toward becoming a pseudo flag football league itself.