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Flag football is a variant of gridiron football where, instead of tackling players to the ground, the defensive team must remove a flag or flag belt from the ball carrier ("deflagging") to end a down. In flag football, contact is limited between players. The sport has a strong amateur following with several national and international competitions each year sponsored by various associations but is most popularly played in America where it was invented. The international governing body for the sport is the International Federation of American Football (IFAF). In 2022, flag football was shortlisted as a proposed discretionary event for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, with inclusion being accepted on October 16, 2023.
The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) established in 1940, is a college athletics association for colleges and universities in North America. Most colleges and universities in the NAIA offer athletic scholarships to their student athletes. $1.3 billion in athletic scholarship financial aid is awarded to student athletes annually. For the 2023–24 season, it had 241 member institutions, of which two are in British Columbia, one in the U.S. Virgin Islands, and the rest in the continental United States, with over 83,000 student-athletes participating. The NAIA, whose headquarters is in Kansas City, Missouri, sponsors 28 national championships. CBS Sports Network, formerly called CSTV, serves as the national media outlet for the NAIA. In 2014, ESPNU began carrying the NAIA Football National Championship.
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The 2022 NAIA flag football season was the component of the 2022 college football season organized by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the United States. It was the second season of the NAIA sponsoring flag football as a varsity women's sport, in contrast with traditional, full-contact college football which is played almost exclusively by men. Contracting from 15 to 13 schools playing in this season, it remained classified an "emerging" sport by the NAIA. A postseason tournament was held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the Ottawa Braves claiming their second title.
The 2023 NAIA flag football season was the component of the 2023 college football season organized by the National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA) in the United States. It was the third season of the NAIA sponsoring flag football as a varsity women's sport, in contrast with traditional, full-contact college football which is played almost exclusively by men. With 13 schools playing in this season, it remained classified an "emerging" sport by the NAIA. A postseason tournament was held at Mercedes-Benz Stadium with the Ottawa Braves retaining their champions title, their third in the only three years of NAIA flag football.
References
- ↑ Wire, Coy (July 1, 2020). ""The Future is Female": Women's flag football is newest college sport". CNN.
- ↑ Fernandez, Gabriel (July 1, 2020). "NFL partners with 15 colleges to commit to starting collegiate women's flag football programs". CBS Sports.
- ↑ "Ottawa's WFlag Football Wins National Title" (Press release). Ottawa Braves. May 11, 2021.
- ↑ "Webber falls in semifinals of NAIA Women's Flag Football Finals" (Press release). Webber International. May 8, 2021.
- ↑ "NAIA Women's Flag Football champion emerges at Mercedes-Benz Stadium" (Press release). Atlanta Falcons. May 28, 2021.