NFL owners vote to permit players to participate in 2028 Summer Olympics flag football

NFL players will be going for gold in the summer of 2028.

NFL owners passed a resolution, 32-0, on Tuesday at the Spring League Meeting that will allow league players to try out to participate in flag football during the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

A maximum of one player from each team will be allowed to participate and each club’s designated international player is also permitted to take part for his country.

“I think this news represents a great opportunity for the sport, for the NFL,” Commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters Tuesday after the announcement. “It’s truly the next step in making NFL football and football a global sport for men and women of all ages and all opportunities across the globe. We think that’s the right thing to do, and this is a big step in accomplishing that.”

“We are now on a global stage, which is exciting,” NFL executive vice president of football operations Troy Vincent said. “We can truly bring America’s greatest game on the global stage.”

Following the ratification of the resolution, the league management council can now move forward negotiating arrangements with the NFL Players Association, national governing bodies and Olympic authorities. Rosters of 10 players will be chosen by each country’s National Olympic Committee.

It’s a decision that was anticipated since the International Olympic Committee voted in October 2023 to add flag football to the ’28 Summer Olympics for the first time in the Games’ history.

Not long after, the NFL announced it would begin working with the NFLPA to allow current and former players to potentially compete in the Olympics. Since then, a fervor has grown in the hopes of the NFL possibly building its own “Dream Team.”

The “Dream Team,” as it was originally known, was bestowed upon the U.S. men’s basketball team in the 1992 Summer Olympics. The first American Olympic team to roster NBA players, it included all-time greats such as Michael Jordan, Magic Johnson (currently a member of the Washington Commanders ownership group), Larry Bird and Charles Barkley.

Now the NFL could potentially boast one of its own.

“For our players, we think it’s a tremendous opportunity for them to represent their country, to compete for a gold medal, which is the pinnacle of global sports,” Goodell said.

Many of the NFL’s brightest stars have already gained flag football experience in the Pro Bowl Games. Beginning in 2023, the league shifted from playing the singular Pro Bowl to a multiday event that includes competitions and three flag football games that add up to a final score.

Before the roster can be assembled, however, some details will still need to be worked out.

Among them will be injury protection and salary cap credit should a player get injured while engaged in flag football activities, as well as ensuring that there are “certain minimum standards for medical staff and field surfaces” for NFL players, per the original resolution memo.

Flag football games and events will also need to be scheduled in a way that “does not unreasonably conflict” with a player’s NFL commitments.

Still three years away, potential participation will be a much-anticipated decision for many of the game’s biggest stars.

“That’s a decision I definitely have to weigh in a little bit,” Minnesota Vikings Pro Bowler Justin Jefferson, who was on-hand for the announcement, said Tuesday. “It’s three years from now. Three whole seasons that I’m going to have to go through. Of course getting older, body is going to be different. But that’s definitely always been a dream. That’s always been something I’ve always wanted to do. Compete for your country versus all the other countries in the rest of the world. I would say just having that ‘I’m the best in the world.’ You can actually finally say that without people weighing in with their opinions about us not having to play other countries. I definitely would look forward to it if it came down to it.”

The 2028 Summer Olympics will take place July 14-30.

Tuesday, however, will stand tall as a monumental day as NFL players have been given the green light to go for gold in flag football.

“To think about the chances of playing in the Olympics and getting a gold medal is a dream,” Jefferson said. “Just reverting back to being a kid and watching the track and field meets. Watching basketball win the gold medal. That’s something that as a kid I always wanted to be a part of, but football wasn’t globally. So now that we’re expanding the game and we’re going more globally it’s pretty cool.”