Now that the NFL, the richest sports league in the world, sits unchallenged atop American sports, that lofty perch raises its own questions: How can you sustain growth and popularity without falling prey to complacency—or greed? How do you further grow a successful league while fending off platform decay and lawsuits? What threats are out there, and what are the league’s tactics to defang them? What are some unchartered territories for the league? In its annual NFL preview, Sportico analyzes how the NFL handles life as a monopoly. Click here to read the series.
Want to shore up a wobbling sport?
For the NFL, all it took was a cheap nylon belt with big detachable ribbons—and $100 million.
Flag football is suddenly everywhere. NFL Flag leagues crowd parks with kids and their families on fall weekends. Girls varsity flag football is now entrenched in U.S. high schools. There’s online debate on whether Team USA has a better chance of winning a 2028 Olympic gold medal using flag specialists or NFL players. And in a preseason press conference, NFL execs fielded nearly as many questions about flag as they did for TV negotiations.
Just 10 years after league owners were spooked by the twin specters of concussions hurting youth participation (a real phenomenon) and Colin Kaepernick turning away viewers (a debunked one), flag football checks a lot of boxes for assuaging the NFL’s long-term concerns.
