The elite of the elite in the NFL on the gridiron are on their way to the biggest global stage anywhere in the world.
The NFL is officially going global. Just seven days after establishing dates for a record seven international games on their 2025 schedule, the league announced it voted to approve potential player participation in the 2028 Summer Olympics. Flag football is scheduled to make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles Games, and now players have the go-ahead to try out for an Olympic team on the world’s largest sports stage.
Tuesday’s vote, which occurred at the NFL league meetings in Eagan, Minnesota, right outside Minneapolis, allows any player under an NFL contract to try out for a future Olympic team, including a prospective Team USA roster, provided the NFL approves said team’s health and safety protocol regarding playing surfaces, athletic training and more.
As a Global Flag Ambassador, the Minnesota Vikings’ star Justin Jefferson, who is regarded as the best receiver in the game, played a crucial role in the league’s Tuesday decision to pass the proposal. He was overjoyed at the podium at a news conference during the NFL’s spring meeting.
“I’m just at a loss of words,” Jefferson said before he danced away.
“Just to think about the chances of playing in the Olympics and getting a gold medal is a dream, just reverting back to being a kid and watching the track and field meets, watching basketball win the gold medal.
“That’s something that as a kid I always wanted to be a part of, but football wasn’t global. So now that we’re expanding the game and we’re going more global, it’s pretty cool.”
Embed from Getty ImagesThe resolution also mandates that each Olympic flag football roster can include no more than one (1) player from the same NFL team; for example, Team USA could send one player each from both the Dallas Cowboys and Kansas City Chiefs, but not multiple Cowboys or Chiefs. Tuesday’s vote also included a provision for additional players, Designated International Players, to represent their home country, outside of the base restriction.
The 2028 Olympic flag football competition is set to consist of six men’s teams as well as six women’s teams, each made up of 10 players per team. Those teams will battle it out using the 5-on-5 format currently used by NFL FLAG, the league’s official flag football program.
Tuesday’s approval from NFL owners will likely be followed by additional negotiations between NFL owners and the NFL Players Association, according to ESPN. The decision marks the league’s latest and strongest show of support and unity for flag football, which was approved for Los Angeles’ Summer Olympics schedule in 2023. NFL executive Troy Vincent previously stated that flag football is “the future” of the sport.
“When we talk about the future of the game of football, it is, no question, flag,” Vincent said in 2022, according to the Associated Press. “When I’ve been asked over the last 24 months, in particular, what does the next 100 years look like when you look at football? Not professional football; it’s flag. It’s the inclusion and the true motto of ‘football for all.’ There is a place in flag football for all.”
Accordingly, both the NFL and the International Federation of American Football, the sport’s governing body on an international level, “share a long-term commitment to strengthening and sustaining flag football’s place in the Olympic program,” the league said in a statement Tuesday. “The NFL’s entire ecosystem, including all 32 clubs, will continue to use our collective power to grow and develop flag football as a global game.”
