North Park’s Flag Football Team Ready to Kick off Season After NCAA Approval

The future of football is female. That’s according to the NCAA, which last month approved flag football as an Emerging Sport for Women across all three of its divisions.

The January 2026 decision gives to go-ahead to local colleges, including North Park University, to begin official competition this spring. The NPU Vikings’ home opener is a March 11 game against Marian University at Holmgren Athletic Complex. The 16-player roster features players from as far as Sweden and Norway and as close as Amundsen High School.

And with the Winter 2026 Olympics nearing the rearview, the focus now is on the summer edition, to be held in Los Angeles in 2028, where flag football will have its Olympic debut. The sport also has the support of the National Football League.

“Flag football is the next generation of this sport,” said Head Coach Ramon Palma BS ’22, MBA ’24, whose squad will start practices this spring. “It’s going to be a joy to coach this eager new group in a sport that I love, having played it myself.”

“It’s exciting that women will now have the opportunity to compete in this allAmerican sport on an international level,” he said. I’m proud to be part of it by coaching these outstanding college players.”

The Vikings’ schedule consists of roughly 15 games against similarly sized NCAA Division III teams from across the Midwest.