The NFL’s professional flag football league has a name. The league and its operating partner, TMRW Sports, unveiled Premier Flag on Monday, Nov. 2, as the brand for the women’s and men’s pro league they are building, and confirmed that it will start play in the summer of 2027 from a U.S. host city that will be announced “in the coming weeks.”
The launch came with a 60-second video, new league accounts on social media and a website for fans to sign up for news on schedules and tickets. The video closes on “Coming 2027” and includes a line from Commissioner Roger Goodell calling flag football “one of the hottest sports in the world.”
Flag football has entered the professional level.
— Premier Flag Football (@PremierFlag) November 2, 2026
Introducing Premier Flag. The world’s best women and men coming together for a historic partnership with the @NFL.
See you in 2027 🏈
“Flag football is exploding in popularity, and Premier Flag is establishing itself as the destination for the world’s top women and men competing at the highest level of the sport,” said Brendan Donohue, TMRW Sports’ president of flag football. “When we launch next summer, fans will have the opportunity to see these amazing athletes perform at their best.”
Brian Flinn, the NFL’s senior vice president of global flag football, called the brand “an exciting step forward in the continued evolution of flag football” and said the league “creates a new professional opportunity for the world’s best players and establishes the pinnacle of the sport’s growing global pathway.”
Who is behind it
The NFL picked TMRW Sports in March after what it called a competitive process with several interested operators. As part of that deal, the clubs authorized 32 Equity, their shared investment fund, to put in up to $32 million to help launch and run the league. 32 Equity has since grown, and owners approved a General Atlantic partnership for it at their October meeting.
Monday’s announcement said Premier Flag is backed by all 32 NFL club owners, along with institutional and strategic investors, current and former NFL players and women athletes. TMRW Sports was founded by Tiger Woods, Rory McIlroy and sports executive Mike McCarley, and its first league, the indoor team golf competition TGL, is run with the PGA Tour. A women’s version, WTGL, launches this month with the LPGA.
Two firms are helping with the next big decisions. Populous, the stadium architect, is designing Premier Flag’s first venue, which the league says will be the first stadium built specifically for flag football. The real estate company Transwestern is leading the search for the host city and league hub.
What we know about the league so far
- Players: women and men, with the stated goal of making flag football a full-time career. TMRW Sports says players will get league-run training, strength and conditioning, nutrition and coaching programs.
- Start: summer 2027, from a single U.S. host city still to be named. Schedule, team count and format have not been announced.
- Combines: the first Premier Flag combine was held at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London on Oct. 6, with women and men from 10 countries across Europe, Australia and the United States. The next scouting event is in Mexico City on Nov. 22 and 23, and top performers advance to a main Premier Flag Combine in 2027. NFL executive Peter O’Reilly said in May that the league would also hold a draft.
- First look: a Premier Flag Showcase during Super Bowl LXI week in Los Angeles in February, at a custom-built venue, with Pro Bowl players, Hall of Famers and NFL legends acting as advocates for the sport.
- Ambassadors: Ashlea Klam, Isabella “Izzy” Geraci, Vanita Krouch and Darrell “Housh” Doucette III are advising TMRW Sports on training camps, facilities, uniforms and rules.
Krouch, a former Team USA captain and quarterback, is the most decorated women’s international flag player, with three world championship gold medals, in 2018, 2021 and 2024, during a 50-3 run for the U.S. team. Doucette, the current Team USA quarterback, has also won three golds, in 2021, 2024 and 2026, and was MVP of this year’s final with two touchdown passes and two touchdown runs.
The Olympic timing
The league is being built to arrive one year before flag football makes its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. TMRW Sports also has a partnership with the International Federation of American Football, the sport’s Olympic governing body. At this year’s IFAF World Championships, the U.S. women’s and men’s teams, both Canadian teams, Italy’s men and Mexico’s women became the first nations to qualify for Los Angeles.
The league is betting on growth below the pro level too. It says more than 20 million people play flag football worldwide and about 4.1 million young people play in the U.S., up more than 50% since 2020. High school flag football is offered in 40 states, 25 of which sanction it as a varsity sport, and more than 250 colleges field women’s teams. The NCAA has added women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program and recommended a national championship in all three divisions as early as spring 2028.
What comes next
The host city is the first piece to watch, and the league says that announcement is weeks away. After that come the Mexico City event later this month, the Super Bowl week showcase in February and the 2027 combine that will fill the first rosters.
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