Where will the NFL’s new professional flag football league play its game? Quite possibly, wherever it wants.
Via Ben Fischer of Sports Business Journal, the recently-announced venture could play its games in a portable, high-tech venue that will go from city to city.
“One of the things we’re exploring is: Could you build a modular venue that pops up in a location, is a smaller venue, but has the ability to move with the league?” NFL executive V.P. Peter O’Reilly said, via Fischer.
O’Reilly mentioned the TGL location in Florida as an example of what the flag facility could become.
“That’s a fixed venue, but [there’s] a lot of really smart work going into the technology there, the creation of that venue and making it intimate,” O’Reilly said.
Regardless, the NFL and its flag football investors see the new league as a potential moneymaker. With the league kicking in $32 million ($1 million per club) and $160 million raised so far from others, the overriding objective will be to make the flag league profitable.
For now, as Fischer notes, there aren’t many details. No one knows the number of teams, for example, or the exact time frame for getting things started. And, like most new enterprises, there are plenty of unknowns when it comes to how it will be received.
“I don’t think we know enough at this point to really gauge how big the crowds are going to be, or what the number of eyeballs will be on TV,” Chiefs owner Clark Hunt said. “That’s something we’ll learn.”
For now, the league is optimistic that it will be something more than a loss leader aimed at spreading interest in football generally. The NFL, like every other business, wants to keep growing and growing. Flag football will be the next frontier in attempting to do just that.
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