MEAC becomes latest Division I conference to add women’s flag football

The Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference is getting in on the ground floor of the rising sport of women’s flag football as it barrels toward its debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics.

>MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills announced Tuesday, June 16 that the conference will begin playing women’s flag football as a varsity sport in the 2026-27 academic year, hosting a conference championship in 2027. The MEAC — one of two Division I NCAA conferences that is made up of only historically Black colleges — will be the first at the D1 level to host a conference championship for the sport. It will also add women’s golf as a championship sport next season.

>"The addition of women's flag football and women's golf represents an exciting step forward for the MEAC and our member institutions," Stills said in a statement. "As we continue to create meaningful opportunities for student-athletes, these sports further strengthen our commitment to supporting the growth of women's athletics, while enhancing the championship experience across our conference."

>In its news release, the MEAC didn’t say which of its eight full-member schools would participate in its inaugural flag football season, but Delaware State, Howard, Norfolk State and NC Central currently have club programs.

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>The MEAC is the second Division I conference to announce it will sponsor women’s flag football after the Big South, which will begin conference play in the 2027-28 season. It is also the third HBCU conference to sponsor varsity women’s flag football, joining the CIAA and SIAC in the Division II ranks.

>Last month, the sport took a meaningful step forward by receiving a formal recommendation to become a championship-level sport, which could pave the way for the first official women’s flag football NCAA tournament as early as the spring of 2028. Flag football was added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program back in January.

>For a sport to graduate from that program to championship status, 40 schools must sponsor it at a varsity level and meet the sport's minimum competition and participant requirements. Since it was added to the Emerging Sports for Women program, flag football has grown leaps and bounds at the collegiate level. More than 20 Division I programs — including one at the Power 4 level, Nebraska — have announced their intentions to launch teams at the varsity level by 2028.

>Sacramento State became the latest Division I school to announce a varsity women’s flag football team earlier this week, with the aim of playing games by the 2027-28 season. More than 75 schools across the NCAA’s three divisions plan to play women’s flag football in the next academic year.

>The Big 12 plans to have six teams playing women’s flag football at the varsity level by 2028, and ACC commissioner Jim Phillips said last month that his conference is having “some conversations” about women’s flag football.

>In lieu of an official NCAA Tournament this year, the Fiesta Sports Foundation held its own national championship for flag football, inviting seven club teams and one varsity squad (Alabama State). UCF won the Fiesta Sports championship, defeating Florida 19-7. In the Division II ranks, Wingate won the first Conference Carolinas' league championship in women’s flag football this spring, defeating Ferrum College 32-14. Marymount repeated as the champs of the Division III Atlantic East Conference with a 12-6 win over Eastern.

>This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: MEAC to be first D1 NCAA conference to host women’s flag football championship