NFL-League pouring resources into flag football training, development ahead of LA28

The NFL is developing a tech ​platform geared toward flag football training, the ​league's senior vice president for global ‌flag ​football Brian Flinn said on Thursday, as it continues an aggressive push into the game.

The platform will address the training and development gap in the ‌sport, said Flinn, with the non-tackle form of the game seeing a surge in participation ahead of its Olympic debut at LA28. "No one's really done the work to understand how unique the discipline is and what ‌training modules do you need to get athletes ready," said Flinn, appearing at the Columbia University Sports ‌Management Conference.

"We're working with third-party experts in that space to develop curriculum so that we can train athletes to go a little bit further. "And then on the coaching and officiating side, the reality is there's a lot of great people out there, ⁠in ​some cases volunteering their time. ⁠And it's not an indictment on them, but the reality is no one's invested in them to develop them to keep ⁠up with the demanding players at every level."

Flag football has emerged as a key piece of the NFL's global strategy ​as it included a record nine games in its international schedule this season. The league is ⁠chasing millions of fans outside the US, after launching its global markets programme in 2021. The sport is widely perceived as having ⁠a ​lower barrier to entry for newcomers with less risk of injuries commonly seen in the bone-crunching tackle sport, and the NFL views flag as a way of getting more women and girls into its ⁠orbit.

The NFL earlier this year announced plans to launch a professional flag football league for men and ⁠women. "The reality is we ⁠need to make more investment in player health and safety," said Flinn. "My expectations in the next three or four months, we'll have a tech platform out there ‌that is training ‌people at scale."