CANTON, Ohio — Flag football is a growing sport, and for good reason. From the competition it drives to the inclusivity it provides, all around the world flag football is being highlighted more and more. And as was on full display during the NFL Flag Championship at the Pro Football Hall of Fame in Canton this past week, there's a desire to keep the growth going.
The youth flag football tournament featured 2,860 players in 280 NFL Flag regional-winning teams of girls and boys, with six international teams, including Mexico, Canada and China.
With opening ceremonies, bracket-style play and all of the competition, the week of games took the game to another level. And to put it all on display, ESPN set out to do just that.
ESPN, Disney and the NFL provided 32 games across 10 platforms. The flag tournament got the full broadcast treatment.
"The first year that ESPN is televising it across a bunch of networks—ESPN, ESPN2, YouTube channels, ESPN+," said ESPN Vice President of Production Stephen Ackels. "We got coaches that are mic'd up, we have referees that have cameras on their chest...We have four production crews, we have two trucks here and really we need four separate crews to do 30 games over three days."
With full crews covering the tournament, ESPN had some big names join in for the event, including former Browns quarterback Robert Griffin III.
Griffin has a special appreciation for flag football—for the game itself and for the opportunity it provides.
"The thing that I love about it is that I'm a girl dad of four and it's opening up so many more opportunities in football itself for women," Griffin said. "I'm calling the games with my main man Mark Jones doing play-by-play, Kris Budden will be our sideline reporter as well. We are treating this with the utmost professionalism that it deserves, but we're going to have some fun too."
And fun they had. The players were non-stop all week long. Team breaks, and chants popped up on the multiple fields in each game. There were "Duuuvaaalll!" screams from the Jacksonville Jaguars' girls' flag team and a "1-2-3 sisters!" cheer from the Denver Broncos' girls' teams.
At the end of the tournament, New York's Staten Island Giants won the Girls 18U title, while the Saints' Metro Select won the Boys 15U title.
The week of games broadcast in Canton exemplified the growth of the game—and perhaps even served as a push to Ohio to finally make flag football a state-sanctioned sport.
"Caitlin Clark didn't get selected to the US Women's National basketball team....in one of her last games against the Minnesota Lynx was against Cheryl Reeve, who is the head coach for the USA basketball team who was part of the selection committee that didn't pick her. All she did was go out and score 10 points in the fourth quarter, lead them to victory and break one of the player's ankles," Griffin explained. "So I'm using that reference to say, typically when there's a push for something to happen, you have to show them why it should be happening. And this championship being in Canton, Ohio at the Hall of Fame with the NFL and ESPN backing it...I think that's a strategic plan to try to get the state of Ohio to accept flag football."
