Jets Throw $1M at College Women’s Flag Football League 

Women’s college flag football is coming to MetLife Stadium early next year, backed by a $1 million commitment from the Jets.

The new venture from the Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC), funded by a grant from The Betty Wold Johnson Foundation—a philanthropic organization named for the mother of Jets owner Woody Johnson—will begin play in February. 

The 7-on-7 league, called the Jets & ECAC Women’s Flag Football League, has 10 teams committed for its inaugural season—including Long Island University in New York, Montclair State University in New Jersey, and Allegheny College in Pennsylvania—with five more slated to start in 2027. The league will debut with a media day at MetLife in February, and the regular season will run from February through April, with games on existing campus fields. Championship games are generally expected at MetLife, but the inaugural title game will be held at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center due to a conflict with the 2026 FIFA men’s World Cup.

The endeavor came together quickly, ECAC commissioner Dan Coonan tells Front Office Sports.

“This isn’t even six months in the making,” he says.

Since joining the ECAC almost a decade ago, Coonan has launched numerous sports ventures, including esports, equestrian, and club hockey. While enthusiasm is high, the rapid rollout presents challenges: coordinating schedules around other sports, hiring referees, and ensuring each school has a full roster and head coach.

Coonan is confident it will work, thanks in part to support from the Jets and the NFL. The $1 million grant is currently the league’s sole funding, though Coonan anticipates strong sponsorship interest.

Each team will feature players who attend that school, and coaches will be specifically hired for flag football. There’s already appetite from athletes—including in soccer and volleyball, whose seasons don’t overlap with flag football.

“The beauty of this sport is that there’s already interest,” Coonan tells FOS. 

Why the Jets?

Coonan says the Jets were a “match made in heaven.”

The team has been investing in girls flag football since at least 2011, helping launch a league with New York City’s Public Schools Athletic League. The Jets also run their own domestic girls flag football travel team and a league in London.

Jets linebacker Quincy Williams, who has coached youth and international flag football, including in London, is helping guide player development. He stresses teaching players to anticipate opponents’ moves.

“A football field is one big chessboard,” he tells FOS.

Callie Brownson, who interned for the Jets in 2017, will be the Jets’ flag football adviser. She says the league fills an important gap in the pathway for women to play flag football: While youth and high school opportunities exist and pro leagues are planned, college-level play has been missing.

“It’s such a pivotal push in a forward direction,” says Brownson, who became the first woman hired full-time as an NCAA Division I coach with Dartmouth, and has held coaching positions with the Bills and Browns. “This is life changing for a large population.”

The Larger Landscape

The league launches amid a surge in flag football interest. The NFL has been actively fielding inbound interest from partners for planned men’s and women’s leagues, which could launch after the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, where flag football will be played for the first time.

Participation in youth flag football is booming. The International Federation of American Football—the global governing body responsible for growing American football around the world—reported earlier this year that 2.4 million kids under 17 are playing organized flag football in the U.S., with millions more worldwide.

In October, Unrivaled Sports, the youth sports holding company of private-equity veterans Josh Harris and David Blitzer, bought Football ‘N’ America (FNA), a flag football business cofounded by former Saints quarterback Drew Brees.