Flag football set for Olympic debut in Los Angeles at BMO Stadium

Flag football will make its Olympic debut at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles from July 15 to July 22, 2028, with the men’s medal game set for July 21 and the women’s final closing the week on July 22. The entire tournament will be staged in Exposition Park, just south of the LA Memorial Coliseum, giving LA28 a compact, high-profile venue for one of its newest additions.

The setup is straightforward and built for quick turnaround. NBC Olympics says the competition will feature two six-team tournaments, with five players on the field for each side and games played in two 20-minute halves. That format keeps the action tight and should make the Olympic version easy to package across a single week, especially with both the men’s and women’s events sharing the same field.

BMO Stadium is not an incidental backdrop. LA28 describes it as Los Angeles’ newest open-air stadium, completed in 2018, and the venue is already home to LAFC and Angel City FC. It will also host lacrosse sixes during the Games, putting two of the most compact field sports in the same Olympic setting and making Exposition Park a concentrated stage for fast-paced competition.

The sport’s place in the program was locked in when the International Olympic Committee added flag football to the Los Angeles 2028 slate in October 2023, alongside baseball and softball, cricket, lacrosse, and squash. That was a notable expansion for a Summer Games that rarely adds entirely new team sports. Flag football is governed internationally by the International Federation of American Football, and its modern version has been built as a lower-contact alternative to tackle football with a structure that travels well beyond the United States.

The next major development came in May 2025, when NFL clubs voted to allow their players to take part in Olympic flag football at LA28. Roger Goodell said the Olympic opportunity had sparked excitement among NFL players, and that decision gives the U.S. tournament a real chance to become a crossover showcase if top professional talent enters the mix. NBC also plans to carry live coverage on Peacock and its digital platforms, putting the sport in a prime broadcast window from the start of the Olympic program through the final day in Los Angeles.