The University of Nebraska announced plans to add women’s flag football on Friday, making it the first athletic department in a Power 4 conference to introduce the sport.
The announcement coincided with the NCAA’s approval to label flag football as an emerging sport for women at the intercollegiate level.
Nebraska will play its inaugural season in the spring of 2028, with a schedule that runs from January through May. It plans to hire a head coach by this summer and recruit a roster of approximately 15 athletes for the fall 2026 semester.
The 2028 launch comes before the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles, which will feature flag football for the first time.
“In a time of uncertainty and change in college athletics, creating new participation opportunities continues Nebraska’s rich history of elevating women’s athletics,” Nebraska athletic director Troy Dannen said in a statement announcing the sport’s addition.
NCAA data showed as many as 60 schools with plans to participate in the sport this spring. The NCAA does not currently sponsor a championship for flag football, but its categorization as an emerging sport is a key step in the process.
If legislatively proposed and adopted, a championship can take two years or longer to develop.
NFL franchises recently voted to support the financial development of a pro women’s league. Flag football is offered at the high school level in 38 states.
Nebraska’s launch of flag football “marks a groundbreaking moment for collegiate athletics,” said Troy Vincent, NFL executive vice president of football operations, in a statement released by Nebraska.
Nebraska’s team will play a 12- to 24-game schedule, according to the school, with home contests at a venue to be determined. Games consist of four 12-minute quarters, played on a field measuring 80 x 40 yards.
Five players compete on each side of the ball per play.
Nebraska plans to place 15 players on scholarship in the 2026-27 academic year, with the total increasing to 20 in 2027-28 for the team’s first season of competition and to 25 scholarships in 2028-29.