Twenty more Wisconsin high schools have gotten help from the Green Bay Packers in starting flag intramural or club-level girls flag football programs.
The $5,000-per-school grants are part of a continuing program by the team to help drive interest and participation in the sport as it grows at the grassroots level. The NFL itself has led the way in pushing expansion in recent years.
In addition to the grants, each school has received an USA Football flag equipment starter kit and 20 protective headbands, the Packers said in their announcement May 5.
Four high schools in the Milwaukee area are among those receiving grants in 2026: Cedarburg, Dominican, Milwaukee School of the Arts and Milwaukee Riverside; Racine Case, Racine Park, Beloit, Burlington and Elkhorn also received grants.
Fox Valley recipients are Freedom, Green Bay East, Kimberly, Little Chute and Neenah, plus nearby Southern Door in Brussels.
Around Madison, all four of the city’s public high schools are included, East, La Follette, West and Vel Phillips Memorial, as is Verona.
“Seeing the growth of girls flag football in Wisconsin over the last several years has been so rewarding,” Ryan Fencl, Packers football outreach manager, said in the announcement. “We’re proud to highlight girls flag as a sport in a variety of ways through our outreach efforts, creating opportunities for girls to explore their athletic abilities through flag football. We look forward to continuing to build momentum for girls flag in Wisconsin and contribute to the ultimate goal of establishing girls flag as a sanctioned high school sport in our state.”
Flag football, originally conceived by U.S. soldiers for recreation during World War II, is a no- or low-contact version of the game with the ballcarrier downed by pulling flags from a belt rather than tackling or tagging. Teams and fields are smaller than in the traditional 11-player game.
The sport has been sponsored by some state high school athletic associations for decades. As of the 2024-25 school year, nine states sanctioned the sport, according to the National Federation of State High School Associations, and 19 others were somewhere in the process of adding or trying to add it. As of 2025, there had been no official discussion within the WIAA membership, although several ad hoc leagues for girls club teams exist.
Upwards of 100 NAIA and NCAA universities have fielded women’s teams in recent years. There has been a push within the NCAA to take the sport to the level at which it has a national championship.
A handful of smaller Wisconsin colleges and universities have added the sport, and in January, UW-Parkside became the first college in the state to offer women’s flag football scholarships.
This article originally appeared on Milwaukee Journal Sentinel: Packers boost girls flag football with grants to 20 Wisconsin schools
Reporting by Dave Kallmann, Milwaukee Journal Sentinel / Milwaukee Journal Sentinel
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
