NFL owners will vote next week on a resolution that would allow players to participate in flag football during the 2028 Olympics, according to a memo the league sent to teams this week and released publicly Thursday.
According to the resolution, “participation by NFL players in flag football during the 2028 Summer Olympics … will support such growth and advance several league interests, including increasing fan and public interest in flag football, expanding the global reach of the NFL, and providing greater opportunities for fan engagement and for our league partners.”
The resolution establishes rules and a basic structure for how the NFL hopes to see the process work, subject to negotiations with the NFL Players Association and Olympics-related entities. They include:
Permission for any player under NFL contract to participate in tryouts
A limit of one player per team participating in the actual games, for each national team participating
Allowing, in addition, a team’s designated international player to play for his home country
A purchase of league-wide insurance policies to provide injury protection for any player injured while participating in an authorized flag football activity related to the Olympics
A salary cap credit for any player who is injured
An expectation that Olympic flag football teams will establish medical staffs and field surfaces that comply with NFL minimum standards
A schedule that “does not unreasonably conflict with an NFL player’s league and club commitments.”
Owners will gather Tuesday and Wednesday in Eagan, Minnesota, to consider the resolution among other league business at a previously scheduled league meeting. Commissioner Roger Goodell, Dallas Cowboys owner Jerry Jones and other key league officials made their support for participation at the Olympics clear during their most recent meetings in Palm Beach, Florida, last month.
The 2028 Summer Olympics are scheduled to take place from July 14, 2028, to July 30, 2028. NFL players are typically off during most of that period. At worst, flag football participants would miss the start of training camp.
