Blackburn College Adding Flag Football

For the fourth time this week, a college has announced the addition of a flag football team. Blackburn College in Carlinsville, Illinois, will start a varsity program and begin competing in the 2027 spring season. The school will hire a head coach later this year.

Blackburn is the first school from the NCAA Division III St. Louis Intercollegiate Athletic Conference (SLIAC) to add either a club or varsity program. The press release noted that other SLIAC schools are considering the sport. Eureka College (IL), Greenville University (IL), Lyon College (AR), Mississippi University for Women (MS), Principia College (IL), Spalding University (KY), Webster University (MO), and Westminster College (MO) are also full members of the SLIAC.

Blackburn is the 7th Illinois school in NCAA Division III to add women's flag football. Aurora, Benedictine, Illinois College, Illinois Wesleyan, North Park, and Rockford previously announced the formation of a flag football team. NJCAA member College of DuPage also sponsors the sport, giving the state 8 college flag football teams.

The NCAA noticed flag football's growth and is proposing that it enter the Emerging Sports for Women program. Eventually, the sport could become an official NCAA championship sport at all three divisions. The NAIA already has nearly two dozen varsity programs, led by the KCAC and the Sun Conference. The Atlantic East Conference (NCAA D-III), CIAA (NCAA D-II), Conference Carolinas (NCAA D-II), Empire 8 (NCAA D-III), and United East Conference (NCAA D-III) will sponsor flag football for the 2026 season.

More than 85 schools will add women's flag football as a club or varsity sport for the 2025-26 academic year, pushing the total number of teams above 200 across the United States. Earlier this week, NCAA Division I's Radford University (VA) announced it would add a club team, UT Arlington (TX) will add a varsity team, and the NAIA's College of Saint Mary (Nebraska) announced a future varsity program.