NFL's Flag Football League Timeline, Draft, More Discussed by Exec Ahead of 2028 Olympics

The first-ever Olympic flag football will debut in 2028, and the NFL could launch its own flag football league before then.

The NFL's two professional flag football leagues could launch by late spring or early summer of 2027, Peter O'Reilly, executive vice president of club business, international and league events, said on the Up & Adams show on Monday (h/t The Athletic's Jayna Bardahl).

There would be a men's league and a women's league, and O'Reilly explained that both would operate similarly to the NFL.

"There's going to be a combine for this pro flag league," he said. "There's going to be a draft. There's going to be an opportunity to play this sport at the highest level, and it's going to be awesome."

According to Bardahl, the NFL says flag football is one of the world's fastest-growing sports, with more than 20 million participants at youth, men's, and women's levels across 100 countries.

O'Reilly said the new flag football league could be "a little bit of both" when asked if it would serve as a developmental tool for the NFL.

"I don't know. I think it could be a little bit of both," O'Reilly said. "You'll see maybe there is some pathway component to it, but I think more than anything, it is a distinct sport, a distinct path. Certainly on the women's side, this will be the best of the best from around the world playing in this professional flag league."