For other Olympics sports that utilize the services of American pro athletes (hockey and basketball), it’s a full, two-week commitment. For the 2028 Olympic flag football tournament featuring active NFL players, it will be half that.
Per the NFL, “The flag football competition will be July 14-21 in 2028 a week before most veteran reporting dates” for training camp.
While that minimizes the potential disruption to a player’s preparation for the coming season, it nevertheless carves into his pre-camp down time. And, obviously, it comes with injury risk.
Then there’s the still-unknown question of the amount of time that will be devoted to preparing for the flag football tournament. Will players miss part of the offseason program? Will they have any time off between the end of the offseason program and the start of NFL training camp?
It ultimately will affect two handfuls of players, literally. The U.S. team will have 10 players for the five-on-five Olympic flag format. To the extent that some NFL players will be eligible to play for other countries, there will be only six total teams in the Olympic tournament.
Regardless, the direct disruption to the 2028 NFL season will be minimal, with perhaps only the two teams that will play in the Hall of Fame game that year not having their Olympic players.
That’s just one of many angles that have yet to be fully explored, by the media or (quite possibly if not likely) by the NFL.
For the league, the goal has been simple. Flag football is in the Olympics, which means the NFL wants its players present on the international stage. Because the NFL believes that will advance the broader 100-year-goal of global domination.
Yes, that sounds crazy. Almost as crazy as it sounded in the ‘60s and ‘70s that football would ever overtake baseball as the true American pastime.
