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Vikings-Backed Girls Flag Football Is Taking Off in Minnesota
Vikings-Backed Girls Flag Football Is Taking Off in Minnesota
In a matter of days, Minnesota will see its newest girls’ flag football champion crowned.
After officially commencing play in 2024, the second season of high school girls flag football will wrap up on Monday, June 8, at TCO Stadium in Eagan.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementMinnesota’s Fast-Growing Sport Gets Another Showcase
The sport, while drawing some big names, like recent Vikings retiree Harrison Smith, is not quite at the level of official sanction in the state of Minnesota. But this year saw a major step forward in the game’s growth.
The Minnesota Vikings will be hosting their second annual high school girls flag football state championship Monday, in partnership with the Minneapolis Star Tribune. Thirteen qualifying schools will play for a state title at TCO Stadium in Eagen, Minn.
It’s the culmination of this year’s Minnesota high school girls flag football season, run by a league the Vikings piloted in 2024 and officially launched in 2025. The 2026 season saw exponential growth for the league, with participation more than doubling from 51 teams in 2025 to 106 teams in 2026.
But with the growth of high school girls’ flag football on the rise, this is starting to become an exciting time for the gridiron. So, which teams are participating in this year’s championship? And what is the current status of girls’ high school flag football? Let’s take a closer look.
Girls’ High School Flag Football In Bloom In Minnesota
First off, let’s discuss the bracket for the upcoming event on Monday.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementAs already mentioned, 13 teams will take part in the competition, which begins at noon Central Time, with eighth-seeded St. Cloud Tech facing ninth-seeded Park Cottage Grove. The other game at noon will be fourth-seeded St. Louis Park High School taking on the number 13-ranked Rogers High.
The 1 o’clock game will feature seventh-ranked Eden Prairie squaring off against the number ten seed Minnetonka, and at 2 p.m., sixth-seeded Centennial will do battle against number 11 seed Waterville-Elysian-Morristown [try saying that three times fast].
Two games will start at 3 p.m., with the winner of the eight vs nine matchup playing the top-seeded Washburn High School [Minneapolis], and the winners of the four-13 battle and the 5-12 matchup playing each other.
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementThe 4 pm window sees the winner of the seven-ten game doing battle against second-seeded Rosemont, while the victor of the six-11 showdown gets a date with third-seeded La Crescent-Hokah. All four winners of those games will meet in two semifinals that kick off at 5 p.m., and the championship game featuring the two semifinal winners will commence at 6 p.m.
Girls Flag Football On The Rise In The U.S.
However, Minnesota is not the only state seeing increased participation in girls’ flag football at the high school level.
As Brown references, “Flag football is not yet an officially sanctioned high school sport in Minnesota, making the Vikings-backed league the state’s main pathway for girls flag football. The Minnesota State High School League tabled a proposal Tuesday that would have granted the sport ’emerging status,’ the next step toward becoming an official high school sport, and they plan to review the proposal in October.
The sport will make its Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games, and its popularity at the high school and college levels has been skyrocketing as the Games get closer. It is currently an official high school sport in 23 states, with 16 of those sanctioning it within the past two years, and numerous more are currently running pilot programs.”
AdvertisementAdvertisementAdvertisementSo, the Vikings are not the only team picking up on and capitalizing on the trend of girls’ high school flag football. Perhaps this could mean an even bigger and even brighter future for the sport.
As Alyce Brown of USA Today writes,