Colorado and Montana Adding Flag Football Club Teams
The University of Colorado and the University of Montana intend to launch women's flag football club teams for the spring 2026 season. Both clubs confirmed the plans in messages sent to Collegiate Flag Football.
In the Western half of the country, flag football already has a burgeoning scene in Arizona and California. The addition of club teams in Colorado and Montana represents a huge boost to the Rocky Mountain and Pacific Northwest regions. Not only are the two clubs the first known programs in their respective states, but they are also the first in that part of the West.
Both schools are currently seeking opponents to play in spring 2026. In an email to Collegiate Flag Football, Montana's Assistant Director of Club Sports Tucker Sargent stated, "Our goal is to get a couple of games next semester, even if that involves significant travel. Hopefully, by us planting a flag in the Northwest, more teams will pop up." Colorado also hopes to find club teams "within a reasonable distance," as they look to fill out a schedule for next semester.
Colorado is a member of the NCAA Division I Big 12 Conference, which now has three club teams. Fellow Big 12 members Arizona State University and the University of Central Florida both offer club programs. Montana is the first school from the NCAA Division I Big Sky Conference to offer a club or varsity flag football team.
Club teams currently dominate the NCAA Division I flag football landscape, with nearly 50 club programs set to compete during the 2025-26 academic year. In addition to Colorado and Montana, some of the NCAA D-I club teams that will participate for the first time this year include Bowling Green State University (OH), Cal Poly (CA), Eastern Kentucky University, Iona University (NY), Jacksonville University (FL), Radford University (VA), Rutgers University (NJ), and Sacred Heart University (CT).
More than 235 club and varsity teams across the different collegiate governing bodies will compete during the 2025-26 academic year. Beyond spring 2026, there are already 60 new club or varsity teams that will launch in the coming years. That number is expected to continue growing as the NCAA is expected to add flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program in January 2026. Flag football could become an NCAA championship sport by 2028, the same year the NFL is expected to announce new professional flag leagues and the sport makes its Olympic debut.