The National Football League is making its long-gestating flag football league official, lining up a murderers row of investors and partnering with TMRW Sports to launch the league, which will include both women’s and men’s teams.
The NFL announced the deals Monday, with TMRW (best known for its golf league TGL) serving as an operating partner. Investors will include Silver Lake Ariel Investments/Project Level, Bessemer Venture Partners, Blue Pool Capital, and Dynasty Equity, with well-known athletes also joining the cap table, including Tom Brady, Peyton Manning, Serena Williams, Billie Jean King, Joe Montana and Alex Morgan, among many others.
Media and sponsorship deals are still in the works, as are the specifics around launch timing, though sources have said that the NFL would like to get the league up and running ahead of the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, which will include flag football as sports for both women and men. The visibility from the games is expected to be a big driver for the nascent league.
The NFL’s own venture arm is contributing up to $32 million to start the league. It is not immediately clear how much capital the other investors are contributing.
Flag football is seen as a significant growth opportunity for the NFL, providing an entryway for women and girls to play the sport in a meaningful way, and to give options to families or individuals wary of the full-contact nature of the main product, with concerns around injuries and concussions well-known by this point.
TV networks and streaming services are said to be both salivating at the prospect of the league and wary of it, depending on who you ask. There is real demand from marketers for more top-tier women’s sports, and the new league would fit that bill. At the same time, there is concern that the NFL could leverage its looming media rights renegotiations to secure space for the nascent league, which could further stress legacy media companies already under financial pressure.
“As the flag football movement continues its explosive global growth, a professional flag league completes the pathway for elite athletes to compete at every level of the game, from youth to high school and college, to the Olympic stage, and now professionally,” said Troy Vincent Sr., NFL executive VP of football operations. “This is especially meaningful for girls and young women who are helping drive the sport’s growth worldwide and who can now see their dreams in this game extend all the way to the professional level. Selecting TMRW Sports represents an important step in our long-term commitment to growing flag football and supporting the world-class athletes driving its momentum.”
“For more than three decades, the NFL has made a significant investment in flag football at the grassroots levels, including youth, high school and college. And now with the inclusion of flag football in the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, TMRW Sports shares a vision with the NFL to further fuel fandom and participation worldwide with the development of a professional flag football league,” added Mike McCarley, founder and CEO of TMRW Sports. “As the elite competitive tier of flag football, this league will mark a new era for the sport as the world’s best compete in a fast-paced format that aligns with the evolving media consumption of today’s sports fans.”
