In spring 2027, California Lutheran University will launch its 23rd intercollegiate athletic team: women's flag football.
Athletic Director Howard Davis called the school's decision a "no-brainer" given the game's exploding popularity in high schools across the state, including those in Ventura County.
"The demand in our area and throughout the state is unmistakable," Davis said. "Very quickly flag football will be ubiquitous in the college athletics landscape. I'm proud that CLU is an early adopter and excited to add what I believe will be another elite athletic program for us."
Almost exclusively a club sport 10 years ago, flag football is now a sanctioned girls' varsity high school sport in 11 states. At the collegiate level, 25 NAIA schools and several NCAA Division III institutions currently offer flag football scholarships.
At the 2028 Summer Games in Los Angeles, flag football will make its debut as an Olympic event.
According to USA Football, there were over 230,000 girls ages 6 to 17 playing flag football in the United States in 2023, up 44% since 2014. The sport is played in 100 different countries.
The sport's growth has been fueled by the NFL, which sees the game as a means to expand football's popularity around the globe. Because it requires very little equipment-just a football and flags-it's considered much more accessible than traditional tackle football.
CLU is the second SCIAC member school (after the University of Redlands) to announce its intent to add women's flag football. Additional SCIAC institutions are expected to announce club programs soon.
The university will kick off flag football as a club sport in spring 2025 and is encouraging members of the student body who are interested to
sign up.
"We've very confident that we'll be able to build a schedule come spring and, in the coming years, recruit some of the best student-athletes around," Davis said.
Team activities will begin in January.
CLU is in the process of selecting a head coach for the new program. The future team will practice on Memorial Field in the center of campus and play games at William Rolland Stadium, mirroring the Kingsmen football team.
According to NFL Flag, "The first rule of flag football is pretty straight forward: there's no contact allowed. That includes tackling, diving, blocking and screening. Instead, players wear flags that hang along their sides by a belt. To 'tackle' the person in possession of the ball, the opposing team needs to pull one or both of their flags off."
Teams typically play 6-on-6 or 7-on-7. To accommodate the smaller team size, a flag football field is shorter than a typical football field at 30 yards wide and 70 yards long, with two 10-yard end zones and a midfield line-to-gain.
The starting team begins on its own 5-yard line and has four plays to cross midfield for a first down. If the offense fails to advance after three tries, they have two options: they can "punt," which means they turn the ball over to the opposing team who starts its drive from its own 5-yard line, or they can go for it. If they still fail to cross midfield, the opposing team takes over possession from the spot of the ball.
As in the tackle game, a touchdown is six points. There is no kicking (field goals or punts).
The decision to introduce women's flag football comes as part of CLU's ongoing commitment to expanding its athletic offerings and providing a well-rounded and diverse student experience. The university added women's lacrosse in 2020.
"CLU has a long history of meeting student needs by providing a comprehensive educational experience and the addition of women's flag football is the most recent example," Interim President John Nunes said. "I'm excited for CLU to be a leader in this sport, and excited to cheer for Regals football."
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