A particular bright spot continues to be the growth of flag football, particularly on the female side. “We see the tremendous growth of girls’ flag football for the next five years, as high schools and middle schools implement varsity programs across the country. With the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics featuring women’s flag football for first time, the wave is poised to build,” notes Tom Cove, recently retired president and CEO of SFIA.

While flag football will make its debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Summer Games, touch football is not currently on the Olympic docket. However, a proposal to include touch football at the 2032 Brisbane Olympics is in play but has not been officially approved. And in really big news, in April the U.S. Olympic and Paralympic Committee designated USA Football as the official national governing body for American football, becoming the sport’s first NGB (see story on page 22).

USA Football states that its and its partners’ efforts to grow the sport “have resulted in the expansion of high school girls’ flag football, which is now recognized as a varsity sport in 14 states. The NCAA is also exploring flag football as part of its ‘Emerging Sports for Women’ program, a clear indicator of the sport’s growing presence in collegiate athletics and beyond.”

The Team Dealer Playbook

With football participation numbers ticking steadily upward, many dealers are optimistic.

“We had a good season and we saw a ton of increase in flag football, especially women’s,” says Julia Sherman, president of Bashor’s Team Athletics in Portland, OR. “Parents are more apt to let kids play flag because it’s safer and overall participation is getting better.” She adds that one local flag youth league boasts more than 800 kids — a 20 to 30 percent increase from last year.

Mike Bruno, GM of Mansfield, MA-based Grogan-Marciano Sporting Goods, is also enthusiastic. “Last season was solid both at the high school and youth levels. We had an uptick in shoulder pads at the youth level and we had a good uniform year with more sublimated being ordered. Basic protective was also in good shape,” he reports. “This fall looks good — we’re ahead of pace from last year with helmets and fall gear will start arriving in May. Early returns look solid for high school and youth, so it will be a good fall.”

Regarding local participation, Bruno believes the numbers are actually a little lower than usual. “More kids are going into flag, especially at the younger level, and schools don’t seem to have quite as many kids in the programs as they used to. We’re selling fewer units but the dollar amounts are higher — nobody is looking for entry-level stuff anymore,” he explains.

“Flag is pretty solid, but there’s not much in the way of equipment,” he points out, adding that the growth will still be there, especially with younger kids.

On the women’s side, Bruno notes, “There’s a women’s tackle football team in the area [part of a national semi-pro league] and many of the players come here to get outfitted for gear.”

“Football is always strong, and this year looks stronger than last,” agrees Scott Treiber, owner of Medford, NJ-based Sports Paradise. “Girls’ flag is absolutely huge and will only get stronger as a varsity sport in our state.” While he acknowledges that women’s flag football will keep getting bigger, “they don’t purchase much beyond uniforms, other than some spirit wear in online stores.”

At Capitol Varsity Sports in Oxford, OH, owner Bob Fawley hasn’t noticed any huge growth in traditional football among local women.

“Women’s flag is big, but not in this area,” he says. “However, concerns over concussions have been tempered. Manufacturers will lighten up youth helmets, which is a very good thing, safety-wise. All of this will help keep football vibrant.”

Fawley affirms that supply issues improved last season and vendors restocked. “We had a decent year. This year is a little bit slower, but (as of mid-April) our five-year average is ahead of any of the previous three years.”

He also points out that overall, “football participation has been good — we still have a lot of youth groups, and traditional tackle youth groups are going strong.”

Nevertheless, Fawley is keeping close tabs on the economy. “The economy will drive the business. I sense that schools are more hesitant to cut loose with purchasing. We haven’t circled the wagons, but we’ve drawn them in a little closer.”

Chad Vickers, manager of Team Sports & Performance Apparel in Dallas, TX, reports that last season was good. “We’re still building up since COVID, but the business normalized since last year. Although tariffs are looming, we’re optimistic for next season.”

A particular bright spot is that “one of our leagues had larger-than-normal 7-on-7 football and our spring sales are up for 7-on-7.” As for girls’ football, “We’re in North Dallas and the ‘little girl bubble’ for flag hasn’t hit here yet.”

Supply Problems Wane, Tariffs Loom

While most dealers agree that supply chain issues are no longer the primary migraine-inducing problem of past seasons, there is great angst about the possibility of tariffs and their potential negative impact on business.

“Tariffs are going to be ugly,” says Sherman, of Bashor’s Team Athletics. “They will be a bigger issue going forward and schools are conscious of what pricing will be like in the next couple of months. People are terrified of helmet prices rising and schools were trying to buy before tariffs kick in.” She expects that product coming out of China will have dramatic increases, particularly for molded plastic hardgoods.

Capitol Varsity Sports’ Fawley concurs. “People are tentative with tariffs and schools are running out of COVID money,” he says.

Tariffs will have an impact across the board, particularly helmet liners and parts from China, he points out, since lots of gear comes from China. “The question is how quickly [tariffs] will happen and how long can we withstand it?”

He also observes that reshoring factories to the U.S. won’t be quick or easy. “For example, skilled sewers are hard to come by, especially since no one is teaching young workers the needed skills.”

“Tariffs and price increases cause uncertainty and we’ve already gotten notices from manufacturers warning of possible price increases,” says Treiber, of Sports Paradise. “The supply chain is better overall, but there are still some companies that are having issues.”

“There is always concern with the supply chain and we keep getting emails [regarding pricing and availability] from our vendors,” comments Bruno, of Grogan-Marciano. “When we get into fill-in season it’ll be chaos pricing-wise.”

When asked which product categories will be most affected by tariffs, he believes it depends on where manufacturers are getting product made. “Uniforms and apparel will probably be hurt the most,” he says, pointing out that “our hardgoods are already ordered and should be on their way to delivery, so we’ll be okayon that. The situation is very volatile and people recognize that, but we have to take things day by day.”

As Vickers of Team Sports & Performance Apparel puts it: “Tariffs! There are lots of unknowns out there which always cause anxiety and we still have inventory issues with certain vendors. It’s hard to guess the impact of tariffs on pricing and availability, but they’ll affect anything coming from China for sure.

“Guessing just makes it worse, so we’ll just wait and put a game plan together,” he adds. “Let’s just hope for a great season with strong sales.”

Reconditioning Challenges Remain

Although many dealers avoid the reconditioning business like the plague, citing complications, inconvenience and expense, others have figured out how to profit from it.

Capitol Varsity Sports’ reconditioning business is solid, claims Fawley. “Schools know what they need to do.” But, he adds, “We have to buy our parts and we’re paying through the nose for insurance. It’s hard for small guys to stay in the business.”

“The majority of our reconditioning is done through Schutt,” says Bruno. “So far, it’s gone better this year than in the past few years, but it’s a lot of work for not a lot of money. We don’t particularly like being involved with reconditioningo.

Extra Points

On the high school front, including boys’ and girls’ competitors in six-, eight-, nine- and 11-player football, and girls’ and boys’ participants in flag football, the overall football total for 2023-24 was 1,118,705 – an increase of 28,825 from 2022-23. Source: NFHS

Eleven-player football remained the most popular high school boys’ sport and registered an increase for the second consecutive year from 1,028,761 to 1,031,508. There also was an increase in eight-player football participation — from 23,812 to 26,420. Source: NFHS

The biggest gains in high school football came on the girls’ side, particularly with the emerging sport of flag football. The number of participants in girls’ flag football more than doubled from 2022-23 to 2023-24. A total of 42,955 girls participated in flag football in 2023-24 compared to 20,875 the previous year — a 105 percent increase. And from the 15,716 participants in 2021-22, there has been an increase of 173 percent. There also was an increase in the number of girls competing on 11-player football teams from 3654 to 4094. Source: NFHS

Flag football is one of the fastest-growing youth sports in the U.S., according to sports technology platform isport360. The reasons include ongoing concerns about tackle football safety, an expansion of programs by schools and leagues that make the sport more accessible to both boys and girls, and the fact that the NFL and other organizations have invested heavily in promoting flag football as an inclusive, non-contact alternative.

In 2023, participation in 7-on-7 football totaled 2.6 million (up 9.1 percent from 2022); flag football counted 7.3 million participants (up 2.3 percent from the prior year); tackle football had 5.6 million participants (a 3.3 percent increase from 2022); and touch football saw 4.9 million participants (up 2.2 percent from 2022).

Source: SFIA 2024 Trends in Team Sports Report

In 2024, total sales of football goods totaled $780.5 million, an increase of 5.2 percent from 2023, and a 36 percent lift from 2019-2024. In 2024, sales of balls hit $130.6 million; protective was $501.5 million; and Other/Accessories came in at $148.5 million. Team uniforms sales totaled $444.9 million, an increase of 6.3 percent from 2022-2023. In the shoe category, athletic footwear for football reached $188.3 million, a slight decrease of -1.7 percent from 2023-2024. Source: SFIA 2025 Manufacturers’ Sales by Category Report