Girls flag football to become a sanctioned sport in Mississippi

New Orleans will collaborate with the state in growing the sport; 14 states now have girls flag as a sanctioned school sport

Kingston girls flag football team hosted Olympic, North Kitsap and Bainbridge for a jamboree on Thursday, Jan. 16, 2025. / MEEGAN M. REID/KITSAP SUN / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

The growth of girls flag football in high schools all across the country continues. On Tuesday, the Mississippi High School Activities Association announced that is was collaborating with the New Orleans Saints to officially sanction the sport at the high school level all throughout the state.

The inaugural season will begin in March and will feature 12 Mississippi schools; Brandon, East Central, George County, McComb, Meridian, Oak Grove, Perry Central, Picayune, Richland, South Pike, St. Martin and Vancleave.

Launched in April of 2024, the Saints started a flag football league to give girls in Louisiana a chance to play the evergrowing sport, with around 10 schools scattered throughout the state taking part in the inaugural event. The original league is designed to promote inclusivity, diversity and teamwork for the young girls and helps inspire the current and future generations of youth, female athletes to pursue what they want.

In expanding to Mississippi, New Orleans Saints owner, Gayle Benson, said in a statement that she hopes that more young women will get the opportunity to feel empowered and gain access to more tools that can help them become even better leaders.

"We are thrilled to partner with the MHSAA and bring the excitment of girls' flag football to Mississippi," Benson said in a statement to 4WWL New Orleans. "This is just the beginning, and we look forward to seeing the league grow and empower young women through sports."

Mississippi joining the list of states that sanction girls flag football at the high school level comes at a crucial time for the sports' growth. For the first time ever, flag football will be an official sport at the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, with both the NFL and the International Federation of American Football putting forth maximum effort to help grow and expand the sport across the nation.

The concept of having flag football become a high school sport has started to pick up steam in the 2020s. While Florida became the first state to sanction the sport, doing so back in 2003, it wasn't until this decade that a lot of schools started to add it as a varsity sport in high schools, with California adding it their lineup of sports beginning with the 2023-24 school year.

There is no denying that the growth of flag football has been rapid, and with more and more states implementing it onto the high school scene, it could very well become one of the more popular high school sports overall.