Buffalo Bills to Host Modified Girls Flag Football Kickoff
The Buffalo Bills will host nearly 40 7th-to-9th grade girls flag football teams at the Kaleida Health Performance Center for the Modified Girls Flag Football Kickoff on Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19.
This weekend’s event will include 38 schools from Buffalo (Section VI), Rochester (Section V), and Syracuse (Section III), up from 16 teams last year. This growth reflects the broader expansion of modified girls flag football in the region, with 55 schools in Sections III, IV, and V now sponsoring programs, compared to 36 last year.
Participants will participate in a skills & drill and scrim mage format, including 80 minutes at skills stations and 90 minutes of preseason scrim mages.
The Bills are in the second year of a three-year pilot initiative supporting Modified Girls Flag Football in partner ship with the Bills Foundation and the Ralph C. Wilson Jr. Foundation. Last year, 21 schools received grant funding and equipment; this year, 32 schools received support.
MODIFIED FLAG FOOTBALL KICKOFF
Saturday, April 18, and Sunday, April 19 (4 sessions)
Saturday from 9 a.m. - 12 p.m.
Saturday from 1 – 4 p.m.
Sunday from 9 a.m. – noon
Sunday from 1 - 4 p.m.
SKILLS & DRILLS AND SCRIMMAGE FORMAT
80 minutes of skills & drills stations
90 minutes of preseason scrimmages
The growth of girls flag football has been remarkable. In 2022, 20 Western New York teams featured flag football. Currently, 255 public schools across New York State are participating in girls flag football, with 91 from WNY (Sections VI, V, and III, which is the Syracuse area). In 2026, 8 schools from the Monsignor Martin Catholic School League created varsity girls flag football teams for the first in school history bringing the number of high school varsity teams in our community to 99.
High school girls flag foot ball launched in the Spring of 2022 and became a New York State-sanctioned sport in 2023. In 2024, the first-ever NYSPHSAA State Champion ship Season for flag football was held. Since then, three of the five state champions have been from Western New York.
At the 2026 NCAA Conven tion, flag football was added to the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program. This means it is a step closer to becoming a sanctioned sport – one officially recognized, governed, and regulated by the NCAA - which will provide the opportunity to play in college to thousands of student-athletes.
This explosion of participation and passion for girls’ and women’s flag football also coincides with the 2028 Olympics, which will include women’s flag for the first time.