According to SFGate, girls’ flag football experienced a surge of more than 25,000 new high school players between the 2023-24 and 2024-25 seasons. California alone now accounts for 29 percent of the country’s high school girls’ flag football players.
That’s nearly 20,000 girls, accounting for a significant growth spurt for a sport that not too long ago was almost exclusively for boys.
This explosion didn’t happen by accident. When California schools greenlit the sport statewide in 2023 after a small Southern California pilot, expectations were low. “I don’t think anyone assumed it would grow this quickly,” California Interscholastic Federation Executive Director Ron Nocetti told SFGate. And yet, less than three years later, there are now more girls playing flag football in California than playing golf, badminton, or lacrosse.
Driving this cultural shift is a rare alliance of grassroots energy, institutional support, and, of course, the NFL, which is no doubt trying to instill a love of football into a new generation of female fans. That way, they can potentially increase their revenue base by expanding into a demographic that typically isn’t as into football.
The Girls Flag Football Revolution Isn’t Just On Its Way, It Might Already Be Here
The NFL is so involved that you may remember the flashy ad for girls’ flag football that aired during the most recent Super Bowl. The NFL’s involvement doesn’t end there. It also created a standardized rulebook that the state of California used for its first two seasons of girls flag football, and it supported youth leagues through its NFL Flag program that saw involvement from all 32 teams.
Local California communities, catching wind of the buzz, are joining in. Smaller cities and towns across the state are instituting middle school leagues, high school leagues, and even high-level travel teams for elementary school flag football players.
The rapid rise in popularity has attracted big names from professional men’s football, including legendary quarterbacks Steve Young and Drew Brees, the latter of whom cofounded a national youth league. Former quarterback Matt Leinart’s league had only 700 girls in 2020. That number is now up to 8,000 in 2025.
There’s definitely a boom happening now, which could lead to a bust at some point down the line, but it doesn’t seem like the bubble will burst enough to kill the momentum. Girls’ flag football is here to stay. It’s only a question of how big it gets and how long it takes to get there.
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