Viewers who were still paying attention to the commercials during Philadelphia’s Super Bowl blowout over Kansas City last month may have spotted something different amid the expected advertisements for pizza, beer and mayonnaise: women’s flag football.

That spotlight wasn’t by accident. And this past week, the sport got another boost.

The Atlantic East Conference — a collection of small schools in the NCAA’s smallest division — announced last Wednesday it would launch a women’s flag football season in March, kicking it off with a media event in Philadelphia on Monday at the home stadium of the reigning Super Bowl champion Eagles.

In becoming what it says is the first NCAA conference at any level to sponsor a season for women’s flag football, the Atlantic East said it was “setting the stage for a new era of growth and recognition” for the sport. Not all of the conference’s seven members will field a team, though three outside schools will participate for the flag season only.

The Atlantic East’s plan made news perhaps less for the specifics of the actual competition — Centenary against Immaculata, anyone? — but more so because it reflects growing participation in the sport across the country.

At the high school level, 14 states including California, Florida and Pennsylvania have sanctioned the sport for varsity play, with 18 more states testing it in pilot programs. Nearly 43,000 girls participated last year, according to statistics released in February by the National Federation of State High School Associations — double the previous year’s figure.

In college, the Atlantic East is the first conference to sponsor a season, but at least 65 NCAA schools already sponsor women’s flag football as either a club or varsity sport, according to the NCAA. And flag football received a potential boost in its bid to become an NCAA-sanctioned sport when its Committee on Women’s Athletics recommended on Feb. 12 that flag football be added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program. Should flag football pass the review process, it would then need at least 40 schools to sponsor a team at the varsity level, as well as host enough competitions and field enough players, to be considered eligible for an official NCAA championship.

The biggest prize, of course, is an Olympic gold medal, as men’s and women’s flag football will be contested in 2028 when Los Angeles hosts the Summer Olympics.

That growth has been championed, not surprisingly, from the very top of the NFL, which hinted it could eye the sport as having a much bigger future.

“We really feel, at this time, there is strong momentum, strong need, particularly for women, to be able to participate in a sport that they hadn’t had the opportunity to do,” NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell told The Associated Press in 2024. “This was a chance for us to do it internationally on a global basis, with young women and young boys, and really build it across different levels, from youth to high school to college and maybe someday a professional league.”

On Sunday, the Dallas Cowboys helped launch the formation of regional high school girl’s flag football leagues across Texas. According to NBC Dallas, about 2,000 female student-athletes will play throughout March, April and May at The Star in Frisco, on school campuses or at district facilities, with a championship tournament held at Ford Center in Frisco in May.

Dallas Cowboys Co-Owner and Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones and National Football League Vice President of Flag Football Stephanie Kwok joined quarterback Dak Prescott and high schoolers for the kick-off event at AT&T Stadium.

“I remember growing up it was called Powder Puff football in my day, and that truly is what it was, but it was just an after-school pickup game,” Jones said. “Now to see that this game, the game of flag football, has the opportunity to send girls to college is truly amazing and beyond that to send them to the Olympics, we have really made such incredible strides and it’s just exciting to see.”

In its announcement, the chairwoman of the NCAA’s Committee for Women’s Athletics thanked the RCX Sports Foundation and USA Football “for submitting the application” to be considered an emerging sport.

The nonprofit USA Football says its mission is to “advance, unify and grow the sport of football.” RCX Sports helps professional sports leagues run their youth counterparts and events across the U.S. and Canada by providing licensed uniforms and other resources, according to its website. RCX Sports has helped the NFL operate its flag football league, dubbed NFL FLAG — the same league that received the Super Bowl spotlight treatment with its own commercial.