NFL’s Cowboys, Texans urge UIL to sanction girls flag football in Texas
Girls flag football was a hot topic on Wednesday at the 2026 University Interscholastic League Legislative Council meeting in Round Rock.
The Dallas Cowboys and Houston Texans submitted a proposal to sanction flag football in Texas for Class 6A and Class 5A schools.
According to Matt Stepp of Dave Campbell’s Texas football, the UIL athletic committee said flag football will not be a sport in the 2026-27 school year and that the best-case scenario would be approval in the 2027-28 season.
A plan is being worked on to determine the structure and season format, according to Stepp.
Twenty-three states have already sanctioned flag football.
The Cowboys and Texans suggested two formats for flag in Texas. The first was a four-week tournament model that included a one-week pool play and a two-week double-elimination gauntlet to determine seeding for the playoffs in the fourth week.
The other option was a traditional model with a four-week season, with a district and area playoff as well as a state championship. That was the preferred model and is what the Cowboys and Texans’ flag leagues are utilizing.
The Cowboys and Texans had in-person representatives at the meeting who spoke to the committee. The two organizations have been spearheading the charge in Texas since 2023 and have seen a 1,500% growth rate, according to Hannah McNair of the Houston Texans Foundation.
More than 240 Texas schools and nearly 5,500 athletes are involved in Cowboys or Texans flag leagues, including schools in Dallas-Fort Worth, Houston, Austin and El Paso.
“That is not a trend,” Charlotte Jones, Cowboys co-owner and chief brand officer, said. “It’s an explosion. That kind of growth doesn’t happen because someone ran a marketing campaign. It happens because people believe support exists.”
McNair said she anticipates more than 270 schools participating in 2027.
“The time is now, the field is hers, and let’s make Texas next,” McNair said.
On Saturday and Sunday, the Texans and Cowboys will put on the first Texas high school flag football state championship at the University of North Texas’ DACTU Stadium.
The sport’s popularity has been surging, and it is set to debut at the 2028 Olympic Games.
“47% of NFL fans watching our game are women,” Jones said. “47%, they love to watch the game of football, and y’all — they want to play the game of football.”
In January, the NCAA named women’s flag football an emerging sport. It needs more than 40 schools to start working toward a national championship, according to the NCAA, but more than 100 are already slated to compete.
The Associated Press reported that an NCAA flag championship could happen as soon as spring 2028.
The Texans and Cowboys have hosted college showcases with 58 colleges, helping Texas athletes capitalize on rapidly increasing scholarship opportunities. At the Cowboys’ showcase, 31 athletes received college offers.
Fort Worth ISD spearheads the charge
Several student athletes and athletic directors made their case for the approval of flag football. One of those ADs was Fort Worth ISD’s Lisa Langston, who has been at the forefront of flag football’s rise in the Fort Worth area, starting the movement five years ago.
“We started with a vision,” Langston said. “Now, we have results.”
Langston said Fort Worth ISD had a school fill out a flag football roster with 25 athletes, all of which had never participated in a school sport.
In total, Fort Worth ISD has 511 flag athletes, and Langston said they are asking for something simple:
“The opportunity to play, compete and belong,” she said.
Langston shared a personal story about a Fort Worth athlete who wanted to play football, and had to play tackle with boys before girls flag leagues started to pop up.
“[She] said, ‘Thank you for starting flag. I can finally play football with other girls.’” Langston said. “I still remember that moment, because it was emotional. A father also shared how grateful he was, because the sport gave him something special — a way to connect and bond with his daughter.”
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