There is no question that NFL teams, including the Buffalo Bills, are trying to be good teammates with girls flag football.
The Bills are hosting a high school girls flag football kickoff for at least 70 teams in the Rochester and Buffalo regions March 27-29. There are six sessions scheduled in inside Buffalo Bills Training Center in Orchard Park, which include team scrimmages, photo sessions and media days.
The Bills hosted 20 teams when it set up the first girls flag football kickoff in 2022.
“We are proud to help raise awareness and create more opportunities for young women to play,” Bills president of business operations Pete Guelli said in an announcement to media. “We’re excited to host this weekend’s ‘Girls Flag Kickoff,’ which will bring together over 70 high school teams and 1,750 athletes from Buffalo and Rochester (areas).”
Section V teams at 2026 Bills’ kickoff
Fast-growing high school sport
The growth of girls flag football was described in the Bills media release as “remarkable.”
There were 227 flag football teams in the New York State Public High School Athletic Association last spring, according to a survey shared by the high school sports sanctioning body that includes Section V. The Bills were told that there are 255 teams, including teams outside of the NYSPHSAA, in the entire state.
Flag football was launched in the NYSPSHAA as a non-sanctioned sport in 2022, officially recognized the following year and crowned Bishop Kearney from Section V and Plainview-Old Bethpage John F. Kennedy as the first state champions in 2024. Webster Schroeder from Section V was one of three teams which won state championships last spring.
James Johnson, who grew up in the city of Rochester, has worked as a full-time journalist covering high school sports for the Democrat and Chronicle since 1996. His career began as an intern during the summer of 1990, before the start of his senior year at Edison in the Rochester City School District. He has become a two-time winner of the Rochester Press-Radio Club’s Sports Media Excellence Award. Follow him @jjDandC on X (Twitter) and on Instagram. Please contact him at JAMESJ@Gannett.com
This article originally appeared on Rochester Democrat and Chronicle: Bills host girls flag football kickoff for 70 high school teams
Reporting by James Johnson, Rochester Democrat and Chronicle / Rochester Democrat and Chronicle
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