The NFL’s Super Bowl campaign made a difference for flag football, but it was one big play in a dense and formidable playbook.
“What that [ad] opened people’s eyes to is not that ‘Oh, this sport is available,’ it’s ‘Oh my god, it’s already at this level of competitiveness and skill and expertise and it’s happening all around us,” said Jesse Linder, vp of community relations for the New York Jets.
A team effort
The NFHS noted that roughly 1.2 million more boys than girls played high school sports in 2023, with the 1 million boys who play tackle football comprising much of that divide.
Nike and the NFL have targeted that “play gap” by hosting girls flag football “11-on” events through NFL clubs in local markets and bringing girls into its Elite 11 quarterback program. The company serves as the presenting sponsor for Florida’s girls’ high school flag football state championships and, this year, hosted its second Kickoff Classic event featuring girls high school flag football teams at its headquarters in Beaverton, Oregon.
“At Nike, our ambition is to be her biggest champion — by growing women’s sport and building a better game,” said Jay Paavonpera, senior director of North America communications at Nike.
One of the teams featured at this year’s Kickoff Classic, Willowbrook High School in the Chicago suburbs, were the 2022 Illinois state champions from the Gustavo Silva’s Chicago Bears flag football program. As manager of the Bears’ youth football and community programs, Silva watched the team partner with Chicago Public Schools in 2021 and immediately launch 22 girls teams with 400 athletes.
“Going back to when I interviewed for the job, I felt that one area that we needed to move in was in the space of growing the game with girls,” Silva said.