The NFL’s regular season debut in Australia will deliver a significant commercial return for the league and its clubs, but the league’s takeover of Melbourne this week is about more than money.
The scheduling of Friday’s match at the MCG is also designed to help secure a place for flag football – a non-contact version of American football – at the Brisbane Olympics.
The IOC is finalising the core disciplines for the 2032 Games this year, before local organisers can propose additional sports. The process is expected to be completed before the end of the year or early 2027.
Flag football will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Games in Los Angeles and NFL executives have used this week’s visit to advance the case for the sport’s inclusion at Brisbane.
“Flag football is a huge part of our effort,” NFL’s executive vice president for international events, Peter O’Reilly, told the SportNXT conference on Tuesday. “[It’s] one of the fastest-growing sports in the world, [we’re] excited for it to be on the sport program for LA 28 [and] very hopeful it’s on for Brisbane 32.”
O’Reilly confirmed the possibility of inclusion of flag football at Brisbane 2032 was a key reason Melbourne secured the match. “There was a competitive process, and then ultimately, it was clear that Victoria and Melbourne was the choice for those reasons,” he said.
“It’s not just about that single game, the game is a catalyst, it’s a drop of a pebble, but it really then spills out to all these other areas and it ties together.”
NFL chief marketing officer Tim Ellis said the league was “still working hard” on having flag football in Brisbane. “It’s very important for us.”
49ers coach Kyle Shanahan coached at a flag football exhibition backed by Tom Brady in March. He said on Wednesday he wanted the sport to appear at Brisbane 2032, even if it would be too hard to add “real football” because “it takes a while to recover”.
“I’m used to watching that with all my kids growing up doing it, how big it is in high schools and even college now,” Shanahan said.
The coach, who admitted he was tired and still adjusting to the time difference in Melbourne, did note the differences between flag football and the NFL.
“It’s definitely different. I mean, me doing that, Tom [Brady]’s flag football deal that we did for three days, you can see that it’s a totally different sport, but there are some similarities to it.
“The more football they can get, however they can get in the Olympics, I’m definitely for that.”
NFL commissioner Roger Goodell promised to provide a flag football kit to every school in Australia in April. The first kits arrived in Queensland late last month, prompting a media release from the state’s Olympic and Paralympic Games minister Tim Mander, who described it as a “wonderful initiative” and that it was “great that our kids will now become more and more familiar with flag football before it makes its Olympic debut”.
Melbourne won a competitive process to host Friday’s match, which is set to attract a crowd at or close to the MCG capacity of 100,000 with many fans paying hundreds of dollars for the privilege. The Victorian government is reportedly paying in excess of $10m in hosting fees.
The Australian Open’s newest court Kia Arena has been transformed into a flag football stadium for the NFL’s three-day fan festival beginning on Thursday. Australia and New Zealand players will be involved in a showcase on Friday afternoon.
Flag football has been prominent in promotional activities this week, and Collingwood and the Seattle Seahawks will hold a NFL/AFL crossover flag football clinic on Wednesday afternoon.
Australia finished 12th in both the men’s and women’s flag football world championship in Germany last month. Only six men’s and six women’s teams will qualify for the Los Angeles Olympics.
