Mount adds women’s flag football as
 26th varsity sport

Steve Morano
MSMU Class of 2024

(12/2024) As most of America celebrates Saturday college football across the country on most fall weekends, Emmitsburg and the greater Frederick County area is almost left out of the fervor of college gameday. The Mount dissolved their own football program in 1951 and shifted their focus to basketball instead, finding success eleven years later with a College Division National Championship. But there may be a return to America’s beloved fall sport on Saturdays at Echo Field come November 7th, as Mount St. Mary’s announced the addition of women’s flag football as the 26th varsity sport sponsored by the university. They became only the second NCAA Division I school to sponsor the sport and the only school in the Mid-Atlantic to sponsor it at that level.

The origin of flag football as a modified version of the game known as Gridiron Football, or just football to the majority of Americans, is hazy to say the least. Many accounts have the origin of the game starting on military bases across the U.S. in the period between the end of World War II and the start of the Cold War. Others have listed the game as a simple school yard game that had evolved from children emanating their football heroes while not wanting to get hurt as they would have in the full contact aspect of the professional game. But with the formation of the National Touch Football League in the 1960’s, the game became legitimized with formal rules and regulations that brought it into the mainstream of the American zeitgeist.

In recent history, the sport has been further legitimized by organizations such as USA Flag and NFL Flag. Specifically in the National Football League’s embracing of the game, further coverage, sponsorship, and exposure has come to youth football leagues around the country and has truly expanded the sport from a gym class pastime to a legitimate endeavor. The sponsorship of flag football has also provided venues for youths to play the game on bigger stages as many teams often hold games during half time at actual, regular season NFL games.

From the formation of organizations like NFL Flag and USA Flag, many state and county school athletics associations have added girl’s flag football to their sporting resume and have succeeded in growing the sport at this respective level. For instance, in Frederick County every public school has an organized varsity girl’s flag football program that is fully funded and staffed to accommodate its players. This has not only raised the level of publicity for the sport but has provided ample opportunity to girls and young women who have been traditionally locked out of the men’s game in the United States at large.

However, one of the biggest, if not the biggest move the sport has taken in the last decade has been the announcement that the sport will be included, for both men and women, at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The announcement of the inclusion of flag football has provoked many at the collegiate level to add the sport. Yet as it currently stands, many schools at the Division I level have yet to add it. NAIA schools have embraced the sport as a whole as 22 schools have added the sport in recent years. Along with the addition of the sport at that level, the Division III conference, the Atlantic East, became the first NCAA affiliate to sponsor the sport, with Centenary, Immaculata, Marymount, and Neumann fielding teams in last years conference championships.

With the embracing of the game at the lower levels of collegiate and NCAA athletics, it is no wonder the Mount has set about on this endeavor to bring organized football back to Echo Field. Not to mention, they have the backing of some major sponsors to help in this process as the Baltimore Ravens, Under Armour and RCX Sports have all pledged their help to the program. "We are excited to witness the expansion of girl's and women's flag football throughout the state of Maryland. We launched the high school program in Frederick County in 2023, our goals were to experience year-over-year growth and increase athletic opportunities for young women in our region. With the sport now reaching student-athletes at the Division I collegiate level, those goals are becoming more of a reality." Said Brad Downs, the Senior Vice President of Marketing for the Baltimore Ravens.

There has also been the backing of the sponsorship of the game at the Mount by some experienced NFL veterans. Todd Bowles, the head coach of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and a Mount St. Mary’s alumni said, "Adding women's flag football is a major move for Mount St. Mary's University. Flag football is exploding across the country, providing new opportunities for women and girls at the youth and high school levels. As an alum of the Mount, I applaud my alma mater for their commitment to providing opportunities at the Division I collegiate level for this emerging sport!"

Troy Vincent, the Executive Vice President of Football Operations at the NFL, as well as a member of the College Football Hall of Fame and the 2002 recipient of the Walter Payton Man of the Year Award said, "It's exciting to welcome Mount St. Mary's as part of the tremendous flag movement that is sweeping across the country and around the world. Mount St. Mary's is demonstrating visionary leadership in giving young women the opportunity to compete at the highest level and experience the values and benefits offered by the great game of football."

The addition of women’s flag football positions the Mount to have a hold on the sport as a whole, as bigger schools have failed to sponsor the sport as of yet. Along with this comes an excellent opportunity for the school to put the right foot forward in what may soon be a NCAA sponsored sport with the game’s future inclusion at the summer Olympics. No matter how a person can spin it, the Mount has truly made a step forward in a space that has not been previously occupied by a bigger institution.