ARLINGTON — When UT Arlington scheduled a media conference announcing the school’s addition of an unnamed sport, early speculation was it might be the school’s decision to resume the football program that was dropped 40 years ago.
Turns out speculation was partially correct — only it’s a different kind of football. UTA is becoming the fifth NCAA Division I university to officially add women’s flag football as a varsity sport. Competition will begin in the spring of 2027.
The announcement was made by UTA President Jennifer Cowley at Arlington’s State of Higher Education event Thursday afternoon at College Park Center.
Other Division I universities to add the sport are Alabama State, Long Island, Mercyhurst and Mount St. Mary’s.
There are over 50 colleges and universities in the U.S. offering women’s flag football in either NAIA or Divisions I, II and III of the NCAA including two others from Texas — Concordia and Texas Wesleyan.
Across the three NCAA divisions of competition, there are currently 65 schools sponsoring women’s flag football at the varsity or club level. The growth of the sport has been spurred by the decision to make women’s flag football an Olympic sport for the 2028 Games in Los Angeles.
UTA athletic director Jon Fagg acted on Cowley’s suggestion of adding flag football and likes the idea of being in the first wave of the sport’s popularity.
Cowley said the timing seemed just right to launch the program with the growth of the sport and the Olympics.
The first order of business is the hiring of a coaching staff in the coming months. Once the staff is in place, players can be signed as early as this fall.
The plan is for UTA to play its games on campus at 15,000-seat Maverick Stadium. Fagg said the stadium would need only minimal work in the locker rooms to reach readiness.
A coaching staff will be hired and, once in place, the process of signing players should begin this fall.
Flag football has been sanctioned as a high school varsity sport in 14 states. The number of girls age 6-17 currently participating in the sport is estimated to top 500,000 nationally with NFL team and partner-backing.
More than 50 high schools in the area have girls flag football programs, including all six in Arlington ISD.
“It has really been fun to watch, to see it all happen. Now players have the opportunity to continue right in our backyard,” said Arlington ISD athletic director Eric White, a panelist at the media conference.
Flag football is played on an 80-yard by 40-yard field and a team’s average roster size is 25.
The addition of women’s flag football increases UTA’s intercollegiate sport offerings to 16. It is the first new program since the 2017-18 school year when women’s golf was added.
UTA dropped its football program in November 1985, thus becoming one of the nation’s largest universities by enrollment without football. The reasons cited at the time were high costs and low attendance.
The addition of women’s flag football is not a precursor to bringing back D1 football, according to an athletic department fact sheet provided at the media conference, but it was pointed out to be in line with Title IX compliance. UTA would need to add multiple women’s sports if the university decided to reinstate men’s football.
Cowley clarified, saying the decision to adopt women’s flag football “is independent to men’s sports.”
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