Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic Announces 2027 Lineup
The Fiesta Sports Foundation announced that the second annual Fiesta Flag Football Classic presented by Oakley will take place Saturday, April 10, and Sunday, April 11. The 2027 edition will take place at the Arizona Athletic Grounds in Mesa, with 8 teams competing during the two-day event.
The field will be comprised of 8 NCAA Division I programs, evenly split between club and varsity teams. The 4 varsity teams will be Cal Poly, Eastern Michigan, Nebraska, and UT Arlington. The 4 club teams will see the return of Arizona State, Florida, Georgia, and UCF from the 2026 Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic. Day one will feature two pool-play games to set the playoff bracket seeding. The bracket games, including the championship game, will take place on day two.
The Fiesta Sports Foundation noted that it wanted to feature teams from both the club and varsity levels to acknowledge the women's flag football teams that helped build the sport, while also looking ahead to the growing varsity landscape. Cal Poly, Eastern Michigan, Nebraska, and UT Arlington are competing as varsity teams for the first time during the 2026-27 academic year. Here's what Erik Moses, Fiesta Sports Foundation Executive Director & CEO, said:
“The first Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic presented by Oakley set out to provide a true Fiesta Bowl experience for teams, student-athletes and fans, and the result was a nationally recognized stage for the future of this sport. The evolution continues this year as Division I varsity programs are becoming a reality across the country. Bringing together some of the best club teams against brand-new varsity programs, including the first from a Power Four conference, is exactly what this event was built to do – celebrate where women’s flag football has been and help lead where it’s going.”
The inaugural event was held in 2026 at Arizona State's Fields at Dorsey in Tempe. Alabama State, Arizona State, Charlotte, Florida, Georgia, Grand Canyon, UCF, and USC competed. UCF captured the first Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic with a 19-7 win over Florida.
Flag football continues to see phenomenal growth at all levels. The 2026 NFL FLAG Girls High School Championship recorded 1.12 million viewers, an increase of 46% from 2025. The NFHS reported that more than 100,000 girls played high school flag football during the 2025-26 school year. 25 states have sanctioned flag football as a varsity sport at the high school level, with Oregon being the latest.
In the college ranks, more than 400 club and varsity teams across all collegiate governing bodies offer flag football. The NCAA alone has more than 130 varsity teams expected to compete in the upcoming 2027 spring season. The NCAA is likely to make women's flag football a championship sport at the 2027 NCAA Convention in January. The first championship is expected to take place in spring 2028.
The professional level is also seeing a pathway become reality. Premier Flag Football, the professional flag football league backed by the NFL and operated by TMRW Sports, will officially launch in 2027. Flag football will also make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games during the opening week.
For additional information and updates regarding the 2027 Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic, please visit the Fiesta Sports Foundation flag football section linked here.