The History Of The American Flag Football League

The American Flag Football League is a semi-professional flag football league started in 2017. The league was founded by Jeff Lewis in May 2017, and played a tournament-style schedule every summer. League players are not paid during the season and most of them are primarily amateurs, instead cash prizes are awarded to the tournament winners. The AFFL plan to launch a four-team pro league in 2024.

The game is played seven players a side with no kicking game and no tackling.

Its first official game was an exhibition played between Team Vick (led by former NFL quarterback Michael Vick) and Team Owens (led by former NFL wide receiver Terrell Owens) on June 27, 2017, at Avaya Stadium in San Jose, California and was broadcast live on the league's website and rebroadcast on their official YouTube channel.

In 2018, the league began formal play with its first US Open of Football tournament. The tournament format was broken into two converging, single-elimination brackets, with 32 teams of primarily amateurs on one side vying for the title of America's Champion and 4 teams of primarily professional gridiron football players on the other. The two champions would then meet in the Ultimate Final to decide the US Open champion. Prior to the US Open, the amateur bracket was narrowed down to 32 teams from a field of 124 teams via regional qualifiers. The winning team will take home a $1,000,000 prize. For the 2019 and 2021 seasons, the winning team prize money was $200,000.

In 2021 the league added a women division, with The Academy defeating She Blitz 26-0 and winning the $200,000 prize money.

The league cancelled the 2022 tournament with an aim to move from knockout tournament to a regular professional league, with four to six teams that will play doubleheaders over a 10-week season to be launched in 2023. On October 2022, the league sold its first franchises (Boston and Las Vegas) for $3 million each, while the league mentioned an ongoing discussions about a third franchise in Pittsburgh, with other teams targeted in Florida and Texas. On March 2023 the AFFL pushed the league starting date to 2024, after failing to secure additional owners, franchises and playing locations on time. The league also mentioned they aim to start a women's league in 2025.

On October 2023 the AFFL announced the league will launch on Saturday, April 27, 2024 with four-teams eight-week season. The teams will be located in Dallas and Nashville in addition to the already announced Boston and Las Vegas. The Championship Game will be played in the Ford Center at The Star in Frisco, Texas. The teams will barnstorm around the five locations, as all will be playing at the same location each weekend, with each team will play two games a day, for a total of four games at each venue weekly.

For the 2024 season the league announced the hiring of the four head coaches for the inaugural season, all with a deep background in flag football: Patrick Alley (Dallas), Chris Hughes (Nashville), Matt Bailey (Boston) and Jerry Urias (Las Vegas).

On November 21, 2023 the AFFL announced their core players for its inaugural season, as many of the players have competed for USA Football in the 2022 World Games in Birmingham, Alabama. The AFFL’s pro men’s league plan to pay players $1,000 a week, plus travel and away game expenses.

In 2018, the league reached a broadcast deal with NFL Network, covering the final 11 games of the U.S. Open of Football tournament. The league is leveraging technologies such as using a skycam as the primary angle, on-field graphics (such as a color-changing line of scrimmage and clock) for the league's "Go Clock" rule, and microphones on players.

For the 2021 season, the AFFL reached a broadcast deal with CBS Sports, covering the 2021 tournament's Men's Final and the inaugural Women's Division Final.