PIAA board of directors approves girls’ flag football as a state-sanctioned sport

The PIAA approved girls’ flag football as a state-sanctioned sport during Wednesday’s third and final reading at the association’s headquarters in Mechanicsburg. The sport will begin in the 2025-26 school year with more than 100 high schools across the state planning to field a team.

“We’re thrilled that we can offer another opportunity for girls to participate in interscholastic athletics,” PIAA president Frank Majikes wrote in a release. “This is the second girls’ sport in two years to be approved. In recognizing the National Federation of High School Associations (NFHS), we will be initiating development of a girls’ flag football rules book in January 2025. This will allow us to develop our process to host a championship. The structural changes to the sport won’t begin until the 2025-26 school year. The PIAA thanks the National Football League, Eagles, and Steelers for their support and efforts for girls’ flag football.”

» READ MORE: How the Eagles helped make girls' flag football in Pennsylvania a reality

In July 2023, girls’ flag football became an emerging sport with 25 schools statewide sponsoring teams. In April, more than 100 schools sponsored girls’ flag football, 65 schools from the eastern side of the state and 36 from the western side. That allowed it to be considered by the PIAA’s board of directors to become an official sport.

With support from the Eagles and Steelers, the sport has grown rapidly in Pennsylvania over the past three years.

In 2022, the Eagles launched a girls’ flag football league. It started with 16 schools from the Philadelphia Public and Catholic Leagues. In 2023, the league expanded to 38 teams and now has 65 schools participating. Currently, the league has more than 1,600 girls playing throughout Eastern Pennsylvania.

“This is not just an important day for the Eagles and Steelers, but for the sport of football and Commonwealth of Pennsylvania,” wrote Jeffrey Lurie, the Eagles’ owner. “When we launched our girls’ flag football league in 2022, we set an ambitious five-year goal to get the sport sanctioned in our state. Now, here we are three seasons later and two years ahead of schedule. The sport’s organic growth is a credit to the participants, administrators, coaches, officials, and parents who helped raise the profile of girls’ flag football. We thank the PIAA for their leadership in recognizing a sport that has the power to unlock new pathways and opportunities for girls of all ages in every community.”

» READ MORE: ‘It’s all about them’: How flag football became a way of life for this Camden family

According to the release, the Eagles and Steelers have provided first-year programs with $3,000 stipends — and a $1,500 stipend to returning schools — 25 customized uniforms from Nike, 30 flag belts, six footballs, and USA Football Flag Kits to help get teams up and running.

Pennsylvania becomes the 13th state to sanction girls’ flag football. Other states that have sanctioned the sport include NFHS member associations in Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Tennessee.