Flag football taking off in Western New York

Buffalo, N.Y. (WBEN) - Over the years, flag football has taken off across the nation, and has grown even more thanks to significant backing from the National Football League. The sport has grown so much so, the sport is set to hit its biggest stage in 2028 when it will be featured in the Summer Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

In Western New York, the landscape of flag football has taken off.

"It really caught fire about three years ago in the elementary school age group, and it is a sport that just about anybody can play," said Andy Parker, local meteorologist who runs the RedZoneFlag.com flag football league in Buffalo. "They pick it up very quickly, and then now it's carried over where high school - especially female - has really taken off. There's some very competitive teams. As a matter of fact, colleges are now offering scholarships locally, and nationally, D-I has really lit up for the girls, and the men are not far behind. This is a huge push by the NFL, they really are embracing flag football as they see this as a whole nother channel for kids to get involved in sports, specifically flag. Eventually, you're going to see men's leagues turn into pro leagues, and of course, the Olympics are right there in 2028."

The league Parker runs in Buffalo is an official NFL FLAG franchise, with kids of multiple age groups being eligible to sign up.

"It's co-ed, and it's all age groups from third all the way up to eighth grade. And then what we do is run a season in the spring and in the fall, and then we create these super teams of all of our all-stars, we enter them into the tournament, and then we had one that was able to make it all the way here to Indy," Parker shared with WBEN. "It's a fantastic program in partnership with the Buffalo Bills, they've been a a great partner as well."

This is a special weekend for Parker, as the RedZone NFL FLAG Football team he's coaching captured the NFL FLAG Regional Championship that was sponsored by the Bills, defeating the top competition from across the Northeast United States. With the victory, his team earned the honor of representing the Bills and all of "Bills Mafia" at the 2026 NFL FLAG National Championship Tournament taking place in Indianapolis, Ind.

This is the first time a local team has ever advanced to Nationals under the Bills banner, making their accomplishment even more special. This experience is a thrilling one for Parker and his group of athletes.

"You can imagine, there are teams from all of the NFL markets converging right here into Indianapolis at all age groups. There are thousands of players getting ready to go through a three-day tournament right here in Indy," he noted.

Parker says there is some amazing local flag football talent in Western New York, which includes varsity girls flag football back-to-back state champions at Pioneer High School.

With the interest in flag football across Western New York and New York State, Parker feels the popularity in the sport is already as big as tackle football, especially at the elementary level, from Grades 2-to-8.

"I think flag football is a more popular sport for kids of that age group. More kids are able to play flag football than tackle football at that age group. Now, once you get into high schools, that's where you're going to find the programs beginning to compete with each other," Parker noted. "Right now, the females, there was no competition. There was no football for them, so this is easily adapted. But I do think eventually you're going to start to see just as there's boys tackle football, there's going to be boys flag football at not just the high school, but it'll be collegiate and eventually into pros."

Parker feels the presence of flag football in the Olympics should only help the game grow even further, especially with the possibility of some NFL players being eligible to take part in festivities.

"They are going to pull some big names into the Olympics, wait until you see this," Parker said. "Remember the first time that the NBA pros were pulled into the Olympics and they opened the floodgates for that, I think the same thing happens here. I don't think it's going to be all NFLers, but you're going to see some big names come out and compete with a lot of the other NFL flag pro athletes."

For those who may want to get their kids involved in flag football or even get involved themselves, Parker says NFL FLAG program is the premier league to get involved in.

"If you just go to NFLFlag.com or RedZoneFlag.com, those are going to be the two links that'll get you into a program, an accredited program, right in your own backyard," he said.