New York Jets invest $1 million to start college flag football league

Mya De Jesus came to flag football through a bit of backdoor. Now, the senior at Harrison (New Jersey) High might be looking at a scholarship in the sport.

"The flag football coach, he had seen me play basketball and he was like, 'I need you to try out,' " said De Jesus, who also plays point guard on the basketball team. "I've never heard of flag, had no idea what it was ... I'm like, 'OK, whatever, we're just gonna do it.' And I just fell in love with it. It's just such a fun game. I feel like anyone that plays it will just love it."

De Jesus plays running back and linebacker for her high school team, where she ran for 510 yards and seven touchdowns on offense and had 49 tackles on defense as a junior last spring. De Jesus was already getting recruited to play in college, but thanks to the New York Jets, flag football will have its first official conference in the spring of 2026.

More: USA TODAY Sports Super 25 girls flag football rankings, Week 13

The Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) will launch a women’s flag football league with a $1 million investment from the Jets. The league will begin play in the spring of 2026, starting in February. The season will kick off with a media day at MetLife Stadium on Feb. 27, 2026.Fifteen universities in the Northeast will compete in 7-on-7 flag football from February through April. The top six to eight teams will advance to a playoff tournament at MetLife Stadium in May. It's the next logical step for flag football which, as of late 2025, is sanctioned in 17 states as a varsity high school sport, with many more states in various stages of pilot programs. The numbers continue to grow as the flag football gains popularity and recognition.

"One of the beauties of adding this sport is every college already has a field," ECAC commissioner Dan Coonan said. "They already have locker rooms, so there's there's not really a much infrastructure they need. There's not a whole lot of equipment.

"If you're looking to add women's opportunities, it's pretty easy to go from zero to 60 on it."

The Jets were in on flag football early. They started programs to grow the sport in New York and New Jersey in 2011. They have since created more than 260 teams in three countries, giving opportunities for nearly 7,000 girls to play flag.

"We reached out to a couple of different groups, and when we found the ECAC and what their model is in the number of schools that they have in their relationships with, we thought it was the perfect opportunity for us to grow the game," said Jesse Linder, Jets vice president of community relations.

"It's also to kind of push the NCAA and push the institutions that, 'Hey, this is coming. The Olympics are coming.' We need to get on board so that these girls have a spot to get ready for the next step. The other thing, too, is the only way that the sport is really going to grow in the exponential level ... is to have those scholarships, right?"

Callie Brownson, who coached in the NFL most recently with the Cleveland Browns, played tackle football for the D.C. Divas in the Women's Football Alliance (WFA) for eight seasons. She is working with the ECAC and Jets as a flag football advisor.

"The first time I watched a high school (flag football) game in 2020, just the passion and the excitement and the attachment to it," Brownson said. "That's how I felt when I played and when I was around the sport and it was it was inspiring to me.

"I remember saying, 'Whatever's needed for me for this to grow, I'm all in.' ... Football is a part of our culture, I know I would have loved to have played flag football or any kind of football besides Powder Puff (in high school)."

The opportunities are just getting started for players like De Jesus, thanks in part to the Jets.

"If the Jets didn't help my high school, we definitely wouldn't have had flag as early as we did," De Jesus said. "Our neighboring town, Carney, they just started this year. We have four years on these teams that are just starting, which I think is pretty cool.

"(The Jets) promote flag football so much and they're one of the teams, they're not just doing it for publicity, they actually really care about the teams and put a lot of hard work and dedication into it."

ECAC women's flag football schools

School, Name, Location, DivisionAllegheny College, Meadville, PA, Division IIICaldwell University*, Caldwell, NJ, Division IIDominican University, Orangeburg, NY, Division IIEastern University, St. Davids, PA, Division IIIFairleigh Dickinson*, Teaneck, NJ, Division IFranciscan University, Steubenville, OH, Division IIIKean University, Union, NJ, Division IIILong Island University, Brooklyn, NY, Division IMercy University, Dobbs Ferry, NY, Division IIMercyhurst University, Erie, PA, Division IMontclair State University, Montclair, NJ, Division IIIMount St. Mary’s University, Emmitsburg, MD, Division IUnion College*, Schenectady, NY, Division IIIPenn State Schuylkill, Schuylkill Haven, PA, Division IIISweet Briar College*, Sweet Briar, VA, Division III*Will begin play in spring 2027

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: New York Jets invest $1 million to start college flag football league