As a part of the MEAC’s Football Media Day experience, Norfolk State University hosted the conference’s second annual “Girls on the Gridiron” flag football clinic, featuring instruction from NFL legend Michael Vick.
Conference commissioner Sonja Stills was highly encouraged by Saturday’s results and hinted that the MEAC could possibly add women’s flag football as a sponsored varsity sport in the future.
“This is a great partnership with the NFL to bring awareness to women’s flag football,” Stills told ESPN’s Tiffany Greene at Tuesday’s Countdown to Kickoff, noting that attendance doubled in 2024 from last season’s inaugural clinic. “Hopefully, we’ll have an HBCU student-athlete playing women’s flag football when it becomes a sport at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.”
When asked by Greene if the conference was indeed considering adding women’s flag football, Stills confirmed the possibility exists.
All smiles from Girls on the Gridiron yesterday
#MEACPride pic.twitter.com/aX8W4vdcXO
— Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference (@MEACSports) July 22, 2024
“We are seriously looking at women’s flag football,” she said. “We have institutions who currently have the sport as a club team, so we see there’s interest in bringing women’s flag football as a sport.”
Stills added that women’s flag football could be part of the MEAC’s strategic long-range plan to add more varsity sports offerings soon.
Currently, there are two HBCUs that offer or will soon offer women’s flag football. NAIA school Florida Memorial began playing in 2021, while Alabama State will become the first NCAA Division I HBCU with a team this coming academic school year.
