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International Olympic Committee approves addition of flag football for 2028 Summer Games

Nikki Chavanelleby:Nikki Chavanelle•10/16/23•

NikkiChavanelle

Olympics
Rob Schumacher/USA TODAY Sports

The International Olympic Committee (IOC) has officially approved the addition of flag football, as well as five other sports to the program for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. The IOC voted on the proposal at meetings in Mumbai, India to start the week.

The other sports under consideration for debut at the 2028 Olympics are baseball, softball, lacrosse, cricket and squash. Those sports were also approved to make their debuts.

The 2028 Olympics would be the first to perhaps feature players from the NFL. Flag football would be 5-on-5 and played on a 50-yard field with no offensive or defensive linemen.

Former Patriots and Bucs tight end Rob Gronkowski just may, in fact, suit up for the U.S.A. The 34-year-old, who retired from the NFL after the 2021 season, recently told TMZ he wants to play flag football in the Olympics.

“Hopefully there’s no tryouts and they just accept me,” Gronkowski said. “But I’m in. I’m going for that if there is flag football in the Olympics in 2028.”

Miami Dolphins star receiver Tyreek Hill sounds like he wants to take part.

“Calling all @NFL guys let’s bring one home,” Hill wrote on X.

NFL expanding global reach with presence in the Olympics

With the NFL already dominating the sports scene in the U.S., a chance to have a presence on the Olympic stage could finally make it visible to a global audience.

“The NFL is such a uniquely American sport and this is their big, global try,” said Dan Durbin, director of the Institute of Sports, Media and Society at USC. “The NFL dominates in the U.S. You get 10 miles into the Atlantic or Pacific and it disappears. This gives it a chance to make it visible to a global audience.”

The NFL has made a push in recent years to expand globally, regularly hosting multiple games in London each season. In 2022, the NFL hosted its first game in Munich, Germany, an NFC contest between the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and Seattle Seahawks.

As the NFL considers expansion into more international markets, like Spain and Australia, the league is also reportedly contemplating hosting a Super Bowl abroad, specifically in London. It’s an intriguing idea but that’s likely all it is at this point.

“As the NFL prepares for its third straight Sunday in London, the league already has discussed the idea of one day playing a Super Bowl in the British capital, according to commissioner Roger Goodell,” NFL insider Adam Schefter shared on Sunday.