NFL owners vote to allow players to compete in flag football at 2028 L.A. Olympics

The biggest sports league in North America is coming to the biggest sporting event in the world.

NFL players will be allowed to participate in the 2028 L.A. Olympic flag football competition, league owners approved Tuesday.

The resolution, passed at the league owners meetings in Eagan, Minn., permits NFL players to try out for flag football, but limits only one player per NFL team to play for each national team in the Olympics. An exception was made for each NFL team’s designated international player, who is allowed to play for his home country.

“To have the greatest Games really requires you to have the greatest collection of athletes the world has ever seen,” LA28 chairman Casey Wasserman said, “and today puts us one step closer to that.”

Tuesday’s vote will lead to further negotiations with the NFL Players Assn., the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) and national governing bodies to iron out more details about the sport’s safety measures and schedule. The resolution proposed that injury protections and salary-cap credit will cover any players who are injured during flag football activities, while Olympic flag football teams must implement minimum standards for medical staff and field surfaces to be eligible for NFL player participation and the schedule should take reasonable measures to limit conflicts with NFL commitments.

Standing on the dais at the owners meetings, Minnesota Vikings receiver Justin Jefferson expressed excitement for the Olympics, but when asked by reporters if he will suit up for the 2028 Games, he hesitated. The 25-year-old, four-time Pro Bowl selection acknowledged that three years is a long time in a football life. He hasn’t received any information on insurance plans for injuries yet.

But on Tuesday, he chose to celebrate “a dream.”

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“Just reverting back to being a kid and watching the track and field meets, watching basketball win the gold medal, that’s something as a kid that I always wanted to be a part of,” said Jefferson, who was named a global flag football ambassador for the NFL and IFAF. “But football wasn’t global. So now that we’re expanding the game and we’re going more globally, it’s pretty cool. ... The talent is out there, this game just needs to be expanded and to be played all around the world.”

Flag football is one of five new sports in the 2028 Olympics. There are five players per team on the 70-by-25-yard field and each team builds a 10-person roster for a 40-minute game played in two halves.

NFL players have dabbled in flag football at the Pro Bowl in recent seasons as stars compete in a seven-on-seven showcase on a 50-yard field. Jefferson said, “honestly, it was way more fun.”

“It requires a lot of different abilities that football in general doesn’t require,” Vikings linebacker Brian Asamoah II told reporters at the owners meetings, citing his experience leading several flag football clinics and scouting camps in Ghana, his parents’ home country. “You definitely have to have speed, elusiveness and being able to get away from people. It’s a completely different game. You have to really give your respect to the players that have been training for this already and I feel like they deserve the opportunity to play.”

The U.S. men’s national team has won five consecutive world championships. U.S.-born NFL players who have family heritage in other countries may consider obtaining dual citizenship to play for a different national team. Olympic rosters will be selected by each country’s national governing body.

“We stand ready to provide opportunities for NFL players to be part of Team USA and compete alongside established flag football stars and talent-transfer athletes from other sports,” USA Football CEO and executive director Scott Hallenbeck said in a statement. “We will field the best team possible in pursuit of our ultimate goal of earning two gold medals for the United States in flag football.”

The Olympic competition that features six men’s teams and six women’s teams will be hosted at BMO Stadium. The L.A. Olympics, the first in the United States since 1996, will begin on July 14, 2028.