MEAC sets girls flag football clinic, eyes 2026-27 championship sport

Morgan State will host the fourth annual MEAC Girls on the Gridiron Flag Football Clinic on July 19 at Hughes Stadium.

The clinic is open to girls 12 and older, free to pre-register, and includes a complimentary camp kit with a shirt, shorts and flags. The MEAC is running it with Morgan State University and the NFL, and the day will feature skill stations, position-specific work and team-building sessions led by MEAC football student-athletes and coaches.

On June 16, the MEAC announced that women’s flag football and women’s golf will become championship sports beginning in the 2026-27 academic year, pushing its championship portfolio to 16 sports as it enters its 56th year of intercollegiate competition. The MEAC will be the first NCAA Division I conference to stage a women’s flag football conference championship, and it became the second HBCU conference to add the sport as a championship event after the CIAA, which has already held a 2026 championship bracket with seven member institutions.

The clinic has become a yearly stop for Morgan State, which also hosted the third annual clinic on July 20, 2025, after the second annual edition on July 21, 2024, at Dick Price Stadium on the Norfolk State campus. Earlier clinics were held at Norfolk State before the event moved to Baltimore.

MEAC Commissioner Sonja Stills said the clinic is part of the future of the game and the opportunities it creates for young women. Morgan State athletics director Dena Freeman-Patton said the school was excited to host the clinic again after the strong turnout last year. Troy Vincent said the event is part of a broader push to create meaningful pathways in a rapidly growing sport, calling it a “phenomenal growth sport.”

The NCAA added flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program in January 2026, a track meant to move a sport toward championship status, and the sport is slated for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics.