The landscape of collegiate athletics is shifting as women’s flag football moves from club competition to varsity status at an accelerating pace. The NCAA announced in January 2024 that the sport would join its Emerging Sports for Women program, a step that paves the way for Olympic inclusion at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
A new frontier for women’s sports
Gwynedd Mercy University in Pennsylvania will field its first varsity squad in the 2026‑27 academic year, entering the Atlantic East Conference. At the same time, Roanoke College in Virginia plans to launch a program for the 2027‑28 season, continuing a tradition of excellence in women’s athletics.
The Atlantic East will see its flag football roster shrink after the 2026‑27 season, with several members — including Centenary University, Immaculata University and Marymount University — migrating to the United East Conference beginning in 2027‑28.
Beyond these two institutions, a wave of schools are adding the sport. Elizabethtown College, Gettysburg College and Messiah University are among the Pennsylvania institutions expanding their offerings, while the Old Dominion Athletic Conference anticipates seven varsity teams by 2027‑28, positioning itself as a regional hub.
The NCAA has already scheduled its inaugural National Collegiate Championship for women’s flag football in the spring of 2028, underscoring the organization’s commitment to the sport’s growth. Currently, sixteen programs exist in Virginia, and more than thirty colleges in Pennsylvania sponsor the game, with sixteen of them competing at the Division III level.
Keith Mondillo, director of athletics at Gwynedd Mercy, is spearheading a nationwide search for the program’s first head coach, a move that reflects the broader ambition to professionalize the sport at the collegiate level.