VESTAL, N.Y. – Binghamton University will add women's flag football to its varsity sport offerings, Director of Athletics
Eugene Marshall, Jr. announced Friday morning. The inaugural season will be in Spring 2028.
The addition of flag will give Binghamton 22 intercollegiate programs (11 men, 11 women). It's the first sport Binghamton has added in 25 years, since the Bearcats added men's and women's lacrosse to accompany its 2001 NCAA Division I move and America East membership.
"With the NCAA's decision to add women's flag football as an emerging sport, this is the perfect time to provide a wonderful opportunity for our talented young ladies to compete in the sport," Marshall, Jr. said. "It's one of the fastest-growing sports, and I believe it will be a great addition to Bearcat Athletics! We also look forward to exploring a partnership with the ECAC as we begin to develop this program."
In January, the NCAA announced that flag football was one of its "Emerging Sports for Women." Binghamton will join a rapidly-growing list of schools to add the sport. Recent announcements have come from fellow Division I universities Nebraska and Charleston Southern among others. In the Northeast, familiar Bearcat sport opponents LIU, FDU, Mercyhurst, Sacred Heart and Saint Joseph's have added flag and Binghamton could join the group with an ECAC conference affiliation. The NCAA will sponsor its inaugural flag championship, the Fiesta Bowl Flag Football Classic, this April 18-19 at Arizona State. Binghamton will be eligible for postseason consideration immediately in 2028.
Flag football is one of the fastest-growing sports in the country at the youth, high school and collegiate levels. The widespread momentum (20 million players worldwide) resulted in flag football being added to the 2028 Summer Olympics. In addition, all 32 NFL teams support and participate in youth flag football programming across their regional markets.
More than 40 states sponsor high school girls' varsity flag football, including New York and Pennsylvania. Locally, 17 Section IV schools currently compete in flag, including Binghamton, Maine-Endwell, Union-Endicott and Vestal.
Flag is a 7-on-7 game played on an 80'x40' field. Games consist of four 12-minute quarters. Players wear flag belts with sockets and two pop-up flags on either side of their hips. Teams score six points for a touchdown and can gain one extra point for a conversion from the five-yard line or two extra points for a conversion from the 10-yard line.
Binghamton's flag team will practice and compete at the Bearcats Sports Complex, a vast two-field turf space that also houses the soccer and lacrosse programs. The East Field at the Complex will be lined for flag.
The Bearcats will embark on a head coach search and then begin recruiting initial student-athletes. Practice and informal competitions could take place as early as Spring 2027 with the first intercollegiate season set for Spring 2028. The season consists of a minimum of 12 games from January to May.
