Flag football has found a home for its Olympic debut in 2028.
Via Thuc Nhi Nguyen of the L.A. Times, the flag-football games will be played at BMO Stadium in Los Angeles. Lacrosse, which returns to the Olympics for the first time since 1908, also will be played in that facility. It has a listed capacity of 22,000.
The dramatically larger Rose Bowl in Pasadena will host the semifinals and final matches for men’s and women’s soccer.
The inclusion of flag football in the Olympics for the first time ever will give the sport a major boost, at a time when the NFL is seriously exploring the launch of a professional flag-football league.
The biggest lingering question regarding Olympic flag football relates to whether NFL players will participate. From trials to the competition, it introduces an injury risk that owners might not be willing to accept. And with plenty of recently-retired NFL players surely interested in another moment in the sun and/or the pursuit of Olympic gold, the best approach could be to tell current NFL players they should table their flag-football aspirations until their tackle football careers have ended.
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