FLOWERY BRANCH, Ga. — The Atlanta Falcons may be celebrating the advancement of girls flag football this week by hosting a clinic and the GACA All-Star games this weekend, but the organization's status as a trailblazer in this space is the result of nearly a decade of intentional work.
Like all grassroots initiatives, the Falcons' work began at home in 2017.
At the time, girls flag football teams were a rarity. In fact, there were no high school programs in the state of Georgia that offered the chance for girls to play football in any meaningful capacity. Spearheaded by Falcons owner Arthur M. Blank, the organization introduced a pilot program in Gwinnett County, which is the largest school district in the state. All 19 Gwinnett County high schools participated, with the program fully funded by the Falcons. That first year, approximately 400 girls joined up.
The interest was swift and undeniable.
Those early numbers underscore just how much the sport has grown since the Falcons and Blank first got involved. In present-day Georgia alone, 307 high schools offer girls flag football state-wide. That means more than 11,000 girls in Georgia now have the opportunity to play a sport that was once unavailable to them. They could love football, but they couldn't play it. Now, barriers are rapidly breaking.
So how did it all unfold? A look at the timeline tells the story.
By 2019, 52 high schools were participating in the Falcons-funded program. Mercedes-Benz Stadium opened its doors to host the first-ever multi-county Girls High School Flag Football Championship.
By 2020, Georgia became one of four states (Alaska, Nevada and Florida) to make girls flag football an official sanctioned sport by GHSA.
Even with the difficulties of the COVID-19 pandemic, the Falcons continued to grow access to the sport. By 2021, the organization expanded its horizons to provide funding to high schools in Alabama and Montana to begin their own programs. Alabama became the eighth state to sanction girls flag football in 2024, with 134 high schools offering the sport. In Montana, 28 programs have been established. As of February 2026, the Falcons expect Montana to join the list of states with girls flag as a sanctioned sport in the next two to three years.
From a national perspective, it's been the Falcons that have led the charge to grow girls flag across the country beyond lending funds to Alabama and Montana. With the NFL showing a growing interest in the building up the sport in the last few years, Falcons representative have shared advice and best practices through conversations with several NFL teams as well as presenting information at league meetings over the years on how to start and continue to support girls flag football.
The Falcons' involvement in girls flag went beyond the high school level, too.
Since 2021, Atlanta has been the host of the NAIA Women's Flag Finals. The organization has also put on various showcases over the years that have allowed girls at the high school level to show their skills in front of college coaches. Those showcases and connections have led to scholarship opportunities for young women. In partnership with Children's Healthcare of Atlanta, over 150 girls have received scholarship offers.
Along with being the presenting sponsor alongside the Falcons for various showcases and clinics, Children's also provides annual equipment donations to the program, which included things like sports bras and All-Star Game gear.
A couple new additions the organization has prioritized recently is the on-going financial support given to programs. In 2025, the Falcons began offering grants to high schools interested in starting and growing girls flag. Atlanta offers $10 thousand grants to any school wishing to start a program, and $5 thousand to any school already with a program in place.
With a strong foundation established at the high school level, the next phase focuses on younger athletes. At the end of 2025, Blank committed $6.3 million to expand access to sports across six metro Atlanta public school districts: Clayton, DeKalb, Fulton, Griffin-Spalding, Gwinnett and Rockdale counties. In districts such as DeKalb, Griffin-Spalding and Gwinnett County, specific funding has been allocated to launch girls flag football at the middle school level.
Though the Atlanta Falcons are celebrating the trailblazers who put girls flag football on the map, there is still much work to be done. It's the Falcons and Blank continuing to lead the charge of that work, though, as girls flag football explodes across the country and — soon — the world.
