Jets, Ravens boost women’s flag football with recruiting and clinics

The recruiting lane for women’s flag football got a visible push when the Jets and the Eastern College Athletic Conference brought more than 100 high school student-athletes to the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center for the first Jets ECAC College Recruiting Showcase. Twenty collegiate programs were on hand for what the team described as a first-of-its-kind recruiting experience, turning a clinic setting into a direct path toward roster opportunities and college exposure.

That showcase sits on top of a bigger investment. In December 2025, the Jets and ECAC announced a $1 million grant from the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation to create what they called the nation’s largest collegiate women’s flag football league. The league spans 15 universities across New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Maryland, Ohio and Virginia and uses the 7-on-7 format that has become the sport’s clearest development model.

The league’s momentum has been visible at every stage. About 300 student-athletes from 15 universities gathered for a women’s flag football media day at MetLife Stadium in March 2026, and the Jets hosted the first-ever ECAC women’s flag football championship in May, closing an inaugural season that featured nearly 100 games across seven states. For players, the value is not just symbolism. It is scheduled competition, centralized visibility and a recruiting structure that gives the sport a place to grow beyond one-off appearances.

The Baltimore Ravens have taken a similar approach, but with a sharper focus on Maryland’s school pipeline. The team ran five clinics that reached more than 500 student-athletes, and its girls’ flag football initiative has been tied to a rapid formal expansion in the state. Maryland’s Public Secondary Schools Athletic Association said girls’ flag football will begin its first official fall season on Wednesday, August 12, 2026, with projected participation jumping to 132 schools in 2026-27 from 10 in 2023-24 and 53 in 2024-25.

The Ravens and their partners have already put more than $1 million in total funding support into participating school systems, while Under Armour has supplied uniforms. The team also brought 300 local girls varsity flag football athletes to a jersey reveal and on-field experience with head coach John Harbaugh, and recent clinics in places like Washington College and Leonardtown High School have pushed the sport deeper into Baltimore-area and Eastern Shore communities. NFL FLAG now says it has 1,600 locally operated leagues and more than 500,000 youth athletes, a scale that shows how quickly the pathway can widen when league backing turns into real access.