- The NFL is considering a professional flag football league and has had early, informal talks about extending the length of the regular season, Commissioner Roger Goodell said at a pre-Super Bowl press conference.
All eyes might be on the Super Bowl, but the NFL is looking even further down the road—to a flag football future.
Commissioner Roger Goodell, on Monday, announced the league has been in discussions with investors about a pair of professional flag football leagues—one for men, and one for women.
“This is something that we’ve been working on for several months [with] a tremendous amount of interest from players, from investors,” Goodell said at his pre-Super Bowl press conference.
The NFL has become increasingly bullish on flag football in recent years. The Pro Bowl switched from a tackle game to flag football in 2022, to increase the competitive nature of the game while lowering the chance of injury. And last year, it launched a youth flag football event that was meant to rival the Little League World Series (and aired on ESPN and ABC).
Even the Olympics is getting on board, with flag football being a part of the 2028 games.
There’s no timeline for a professional adult flag football team at this point, however.
Separately, Goodell said there have been informal discussions with the NFL Players Association about adding yet another game to the regular season, which would take the total to 18. The NFL last extended its season in 2020, when it moved from 16 to 17 regular season games.
Terms of a 2011 collective bargaining agreement state players can prevent that extension from occurring, should they wish. Goodell says the talks have not reached any formal negotiation stage yet.
Should the season be extended, it doesn’t mean the league would be looking at a late February Super Bowl. Instead, it would reduce the pre-season from three games to two per team.