Division I school in South Carolina adding women’s flag football

Women’s flag football is booming in South Carolina.

A week after Charleston Southern announced it was adding the sport, USC Upstate followed on Wednesday. Women’s flag football will be the 18th varsity sport offered by the public university in Spartanburg, South Carolina, becoming the 13th Division I program to launch a team.

The Spartans aim to begin playing next spring, in the 2026-27 academic year.

USC Upstate athletic director Matt Martin called the addition an “exciting milestone.”

“Women’s flag football is experiencing incredible growth nationwide, and we are proud to be part of that movement while creating new and meaningful opportunities for women to compete at the varsity level,’ Martin said in a statement.

USC Upstate chancellor Bennie L. Harris added: “Flag football is becoming one of the most popular sports in the country… Girls and women represent a skyrocketing segment. USC Upstate is committed to giving them a place to play and compete at a high level.’

Joining Charleston Southern, USC Upstate is the second school in the Big South Conference to add women’s flag football at the varsity level. Another conference member, Radford, has started a club team and plans to grow it into a varsity sport. Big South member, UNC Asheville, announced the addition of a club team on Wednesday ‘with plans to integrate the program into a varsity intercollegiate sport in the future,’ according to a news release.

‘By embracing this opportunity, USC Upstate is helping accelerate the growth of flag football and developing a pathway to the sport for female student-athletes,” said Jesse Schulman, NFL Manager of Flag Football. “Their launch sends a strong message about the future of the game and the growing momentum behind women’s flag football, creating new opportunities for young women to compete and succeed at the collegiate level.”

In addition to Charleston Southern and USC Upstate, the other Division I schools who have started a varsity women’s flag football program or officially announced plans to launch one include Mount St. Mary’s, UT Arlington, Alabama State, Cal Poly, Fairleigh Dickinson, Mercyhurst, Long Island University, Manhattan, Mississippi Valley State, North Alabama and Nebraska — the first Power 4 program to do so.

A handful of these programs have been announced in the past month, following the news flag football was added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program. The NCAA reported last year that at least 65 schools across all divisions planned to sponsor women’s flag football at the varsity or club level.

To become a championship sport, one that would feature an official NCAA Tournament, the sport has to be sponsored by at least 40 schools and meet minimums in games played and player participation.

Ahead of the sport’s Olympic debut in 2028, the NCAA seems to be barreling toward that direction. In addition to the Division I programs who have started programs or have declared intentions to do so, the sport is also blossoming at the Division II and III levels. In Division III, the Atlantic East played a full varsity season and held a conference tournament last year. In Division II, Conference Carolinas will do that this spring and the CIAA plans to do the same next season.

The NFL is playing a big role in pushing the rise of women’s flag football. The Carolina Panthers are supporting Conference Carolinas, and the Eastern College Athletic Conference will launch a women’s flag football league — made up of club and varsity teams — this spring with a $1 million backing from the New York Jets.

A vote to establish women’s flag football as a championship sport could happen as early as 2027 at the NCAA’s annual convention.

In the meantime, the organization behind the Fiesta Bowl is hosting a national championship tournament this spring in Arizona, inviting eight club and varsity teams from around the country to participate.