Lewis joins GLIAC for inaugural women’s flag football season

Lewis University has joined the Great Lakes Intercollegiate Athletic Conference for women’s flag football in the GLIAC’s first season in the sport. The inaugural GLIAC slate starts in spring 2027, and five schools will compete: Lewis, Purdue University Northwest, Davenport University, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside and Saginaw Valley State University. University of Illinois Springfield will join as an affiliate member for 2027-28.

All five teams will qualify for the postseason, with the championship tournament hosted by the highest-seeded school. The GLIAC is the first Midwest-based NCAA Division II league to officially sponsor women’s flag football.

“The addition of Women’s Flag Football and our membership in the GLIAC represents an exciting milestone for Lewis Athletics,” John Ashaolu said in the university’s June 23 statement. Lewis will now carry 23 total programs, and Lewis previously had men’s and women’s swimming in the GLIAC before shifting to the Great Lakes Valley Conference ahead of the 2013-14 academic year.

Lewis first announced women’s flag football on Oct. 24, 2025, with competition planned for 2026-27. Coach Aaron Richardson, who also serves as the GLIAC Flag Football Conference Chair, said the membership base can stabilize travel, create regular opponents and make recruiting easier by showing prospects exactly who they will play and where they will play.

Lewis said Illinois has 226 high schools sponsoring flag football, up from 22 in 2022, and the Illinois High School Association sanctioned the sport in 2024. The GLIAC said Michigan girls flag football has grown from four pilot teams in 2023 to 80 teams across 15 leagues, with a state championship at Ford Field in Detroit.

The NCAA added flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program on Jan. 16, 2026. The NCAA said at least 65 schools were sponsoring the sport at the club or varsity level in 2025, and projected more than 100 schools would compete in the next academic year. Flag football has been added to the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and in May it received a formal recommendation to become an NCAA championship sport, with a first championship projected for spring 2028 if legislation is approved.