Football Officially Added to 2028 Los Angeles Olympics, But There's a Catch

Flag football will be one of the five new Olympic sports.

By Brian Jones

Football will be one of the new sports for the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. However, it won't be like what fans see on Saturdays and Sundays. On Monday, the International Olympic Committee voted in flag football for the 2028 games. It was one of the five sports added in along with cricket, baseball-softball, lacrosse and squash. 

"Congratulations to the International Federation of American Football on this landmark achievement for flag football and the global community that loves and plays our game," NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. "It's a tremendous honor for any athlete to represent their country at the Olympics. We have no doubt that this decision will inspire millions of young people around the world to play this game in the years ahead. The NFL is committed to working together to strengthen flag football's place in the Olympic movement long term, and we look forward to continuing this exciting journey with IFAF, the LA28 Organizing Committee, the International Olympic Committee and USA Football."

Flag football is a short, fast, non-contact format of American football, and 20 million people in more than 100 countries play the sport. This could open the door for NFL players to be in the Olympics, which would be a first for the league. 

"This is a huge moment for our sport and our global American football community," Pierre Trochet, president of the International Federation of American Football (IFAF) said in a statement. "We are grateful to everyone who has played a part in what has been a truly collective journey – and a journey that will now continue in partnership with LA28, whom we thank for their vision and leadership. We are convinced that flag football will offer an exciting new dimension to the Games – uniting them, for the first time in history, with America's number one sport in its youngest, most accessible and inclusive format, which is already spearheading extraordinary growth, particularly among youth audiences, women and girls and in new countries worldwide. We have no doubt that inclusion in the Olympic Games will further accelerate this dynamic." 

Full-contact football was a demonstration sport at the 1932 Olympics in Los Angeles, according to ESPN. 2028 will be the third time Los Angeles has hosted the games with the first being in 1932 and the second being in 1984. 

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