2028 Olympic Flag Football: NFL Players in Los Angeles, How to Participate?

Flag Football: A Rising Sport with an Olympic Destination

Flag football, a non-contact version of American football, is experiencing exponential growth in the United States and globally. Its inclusion in the 2028 Summer Olympics could catapult this sport to unprecedented levels of popularity. The impetus for this discipline has been significantly reinforced by the support of the NFL, which sees flag football as a key path for its expansion both nationally and internationally. For this reason, NFL players will be eligible to participate in the Olympic teams in Los Angeles, following a unanimous vote of approval by the team owners at the league’s spring meeting.

It’s an incredible honor for any athlete to represent their country at the Olympic Games, which is the pinnacle of world sport. I know firsthand that the inclusion of flag football in the Olympic Games has generated great excitement among NFL players interested in the opportunity to compete for their country on the world stage. We are delighted that they now have that opportunity.

Roger Goodell, NFL Commissioner

The 2025 NFL FLAG Championships will be broadcast on ABC, ESPN, ESPN+ and Disney+ from July 18-20, featuring the best youth male and female players in the world. It’s worth following them to get familiar with the game as anticipation grows for 2028.

Watch the 2025 NFL FLAG Championships

How did flag football get to the Olympics?

The incorporation of flag football into the 2028 Games was the result of efforts by the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and the NFL. This joint effort, called Vision28, was conceived as a means to expand the sport internationally through the world’s largest sporting event. The International Olympic Committee (IOC) regularly considers the inclusion of provisional sports in the traditional Olympic program through local organizing committees. If they are successful, the sports can return for future Games. That was the case for surfing, skateboarding, and sport climbing. On the other hand, break dancing was not included for 2028. In October 2023, flag football was approved for inclusion in the 2028 Olympic Games, along with squash, cricket, baseball-softball, and lacrosse. Of these, cricket, baseball-softball, and lacrosse have been medal sports in the Games previously. The permanence of flag football in the 2032 Olympic Games will depend on the Brisbane organizing committee, as well as the success of the competition in Los Angeles. Flag football is attractive for another reason: there will be men’s and women’s teams on the field from competing nations. This fits well with one of the NFL’s priorities of reaching its considerable female audience. The league says that almost half of its audience is female, and Goodell and other NFL officials have often pointed out their importance to the league’s success. The U.S. women’s team has won the last three IFAF World Championships.

Game Structure and Rules

It is expected that Olympic templates will be limited to 10 players, with certain positional designations. According to the IFAF regulations, offensive players are a snapper, a running back or a receiver, and the quarterback is technically classified as a running back. On defense, a player can be a blitzer, a running back or a defender. NFL FLAG has more specific positions: quarterback, running back, wide receiver, center, running back, defensive and safety. The qualification process has not yet been determined, but it is generally multi-layered for team sports. Let’s take men’s basketball as an example, where seven countries qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games through their results in the 2023 FIBA Basketball World Cup. Another four countries qualified through four Olympic qualifying tournaments held before the Games. Women’s basketball has a slightly different process. The winner of the FIBA Basketball World Cup obtained an automatic spot for 2024, while another 10 places were determined from the Olympic qualifying tournaments. The host country also obtained an automatic spot in both competitions. We know that six nations will be selected in both the men’s and women’s flag football game at Los Angeles 2028. The IFAF is officially recognized by the IOC and could have its World Championships serve as an Olympic qualifying process. So, according to the final ranking in the 2024 IFAF World Championships, the United States, Austria, Switzerland, Mexico, France, and Italy would have qualified on the men’s side under that scenario. The United States, Mexico, Japan, Austria, Canada, and Spain would have qualified on the women’s side.

NFL Draft Plans

NFL owners approved a resolution in May outlining how the league would like to govern its approach to allowing players to participate in the Olympics. The resolution is technically still a proposal, pending negotiations with the NFL Players Association, the IFAF, and the governing bodies of various nations. But some specific goals are established. Among them: any NFL player can participate in the tests; a maximum of one player per NFL team can be included in the roster of each national team; players from the NFL’s international pathway can participate for their countries of origin and are not subject to other roster limits; a schedule must be established that does not “unreasonably conflict” with the players’ commitments to their NFL teams. There may be an agreement in principle, but the details remain fluid. The NFL also does not have the final say on the team, as USA Football is the official governing body in charge of selecting, training, and supervising the men’s and women’s national teams.

How do we do it, crossing all the T’s, putting dots on all the I’s, making sure everyone feels comfortable? There’s still some work to be done, for sure.

Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations

Impact on Players and Off-Season Activities

It is not clear how the permission will be specifically granted, but the owners, players, and the union seem to agree with the idea of NFL players playing in the Olympics. One of the key elements of the proposal approved by the owners was the commitment to provide adequate injury protection for players and teams by purchasing insurance coverage. Players would presumably receive their salaries in the event of an injury, while teams could receive a credit on the salary cap for a player who is unavailable. The NBA’s agreement with FIBA prohibits NBA teams from preventing players from participating in international competitions, provided adequate insurance coverage is secured. When Paul George suffered a fracture in his lower right leg while playing a practice game for Team USA in 2014, the Indiana Pacers, his team at the time, paid his salary and were able to recover 80% of those costs through insurance. It remains to be seen which off-season activities will be affected during the qualification process, which will likely begin in the years leading up to 2028. But a real possibility is that the Olympic Games will coincide with the start of training camp. The Games are scheduled to conclude on July 30, 2028, although it is still unknown what dates flag football will be played. Most NFL training camps are already underway by then, as most teams report to camp on July 21 or 22 of this year.

Making sure the calendar worked within our calendar was really important. The conversation or anything that happens in the ’27 would be more of an adaptation period only during the dead periods in our calendar. And then the ’28 would really be functioning… within the dead periods and really creating windows that don’t conflict with an NFL calendar.

Peter O’Reilly, NFL executive

The Pro Bowl as a Platform for Flag Football

The Pro Bowl’s shift from a contact game to a flag football event in 2023 may have given the game its biggest platform yet. And the NFL has been pleased with the response, including strong attendance in the first three years of the revamped event. League officials have observed a more competitive approach to games due to the reduced risk of injury. Players have also been more willing to participate, with fewer options than in the tackle format, according to the NFL. But television viewership has been affected, with 4.7 million viewers last February after 6.7 million in the last year of contact play. These findings have further emboldened the NFL to lean into its flag football efforts, which now include the formation of its own men’s and women’s leagues. Numerous groups have already submitted bids to be investors.

Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson scored a touchdown in the NFC’s 56-50 flag football victory over the AFC at the 2025 Pro Bowl Games.

AP Photo/Chris O’Meara

Rule Comparison: Pro Bowl vs. Olympic Competition

The differences begin with the number of players on the field. The Pro Bowl format features a 7-on-7 competition, something that is particularly familiar to players because 7-on-7 periods are a staple of NFL practices. The Olympic flag competition will employ a 5-on-5 format, and the IFAF field is narrower. While the Pro Bowl Games maintain the 53-yard width of the NFL, the IFAF field is 25 yards wide. However, the fields are the same length: 50 yards plus two 10-yard end zones.

The Pro Bowl also uses four 12-minute quarters, while the international game consists of two 20-minute halves. The similarities include that each team has four opportunities to reach midfield for a first down and four more to find the end zone. Touchdowns are worth six points, and teams have the opportunity to compete for one or two extra points by scoring from the 5 or 10 yard line, respectively. Running passers must set up before the snap and start 7 yards behind the line of scrimmage. A player can only be tackled if both flags are removed or if they go out of bounds. And blocking is not allowed.

NFL Players’ Interest in the Olympic Games

Several players have expressed their willingness to participate in the Olympic Games, even playing for teams other than the U.S. Among them are Dolphins receiver Tyreek Hill, Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson, Bengals quarterback Joe Burrow, Cardinals quarterback Kyler Murray (whose mother is Korean), Ravens safety Kyle Hamilton (who was born in Greece and has a Korean mother), Buccaneers receiver Mike Evans, Vikings running back Aaron Jones, and Panthers running back Chuba Hubbard (who was born in Canada).

Of course! I don’t know the process or anything, but I plan to stay in this league and thrive in 2028. So, if they want me to be a part of it, it would be an honor.

Chuba Hubbard, Panthers running back

It’s also notable that Eagles quarterback Jalen Hurts appeared earlier this year in an advertising campaign with the NFL and IFAF promoting Olympic flag football, concluding the ad by saying: “It’s our turn.” And Jefferson, who serves as a global flag ambassador, spoke with the owners at the NFL’s spring meeting before their vote on the matter. But he did not commit to trying out for the 2028 Olympic team.