How Fiesta Bowl platform adds 'instant credibility' to women’s flag football

The Fiesta Sports Foundation will provide accommodations, meals, ground transportation, gifts and a player hospitality lounge to all of the athletes participating this weekend.

“Everything that Fiesta is doing for us absolutely blows my mind,” Georgia captain Avery Scott said. “We're like, so giddy.”

According to the latest report from the National Sporting Goods Association, flag football was one of the two sports that saw the biggest jumps in participation in 2025, growing by 14%.

At the college level, women’s flag football continues to grow quickly as it barrels towards its Olympic debut in 2028 at the Summer Games in Los Angeles. The NCAA added flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program back in January, Nebraska became the first Power 4 school to start a varsity program this year, and Eastern Michigan this week became the 18th Division I school to announce it was launching a team at the varsity level.

Moses believes this is all just the beginning for the sport.

“What many may think is a moment in women's sports, we really hope is a movement, right? And we want to be part of that movement and we want to support it. We want to support the athletes. We want to give them the recognition that they deserve,” Moses said. “I've got to imagine that there will be many colleges and universities that add women's flag football as varsity sports, because as you think about your Title IX obligations, it's probably a fairly cheap way to put together a team and offer scholarships that isn't as expensive as, say, a softball team or an ice hockey team.”

To be considered for championship status and be granted an NCAA Tournament style of postseason, at least 40 NCAA programs will need to sponsor women’s flag football as a varsity sport within 10 years. Those 40 teams would also have to meet minimums in games played and player participation.

But women’s flag football is expected to hit that number sooner rather than later. Two conferences, the Division III Atlantic East and the Division II Conference Carolinas, are playing full seasons with conference tournaments this year. Nearly 20 Division I schools have announced plans to sponsor the sport by 2028, and the Big 12 aims to have a league of at least six teams by that year as well.

As women’s flag football continues to grow and evolve at the collegiate level, Moses aims to have the Fiesta Sports Foundation involved.

“I'd like to make this the marquee invitational tournament in the country. Obviously, if it becomes an NCAA sanctioned championship sport, they will have a way to determine a champion and all that kind of stuff. We're not going to get in the middle of that,” Moses said. “But we do want to continue to extend what we call a bowl game experience to these athletes. And, you know, frankly, to make it more than a tournament, but a way of helping to shape what the sport will become.

“We want the Valley to be the epicenter for women's flag football.”

The road to making that a reality begins this weekend. With the Big 12 publicly stating its ambitions for the sport, and with club teams from Big 12 members Arizona State and UCF competing in this weekend’s tournament, it’s not unfathomable to imagine a conference champion in women’s flag football being crowned in the greater Phoenix area within the next few years.

“This is truly a blueprint and I'm so excited for it,” Arizona State team founder Sophia Smith said. “Being able to actually say that we're a part of Fiesta Bowl, in a way, is going to be truly amazing.”

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Fiesta Bowl launching women's flag tournament in Airoza this weekend