NFL owners vote to allow players to participate in 2028 Olympics

From Most Valuable Player awards to Super Bowl titles, Kansas City quarterback Patrick Mahomes has won every major honor available to an NFL player.

Is an Olympic gold medal next?

The possibility that Mahomes, or any other NFL player, could earn a medal at the 2028 Olympics moved closer to reality Tuesday when NFL owners voted to allow players to participate in flag football, which will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles with six men’s teams and six women’s teams, and 10 players per team.

Getting the approval of owners was a critical, yet early, step. Actually getting NFL players onto the field will still require more details to be ironed out between the league, the players’ union, USA Football — the organization that acts as flag football’s national governing body — and the International Olympic Committee. Yet as voted on Tuesday when owners met in Minnesota, each national team would be permitted to select one player per NFL roster. In addition, each team’s “designated international player” would also be allowed to participate for their country; the latter would help populate rosters from outside the U.S.

NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement that flag football’s Olympic inclusion “has sparked a tremendous amount of excitement among NFL players interested in the chance to compete for their country on the world stage. We are thrilled that they will now have that chance.”

The proposal also stated that national teams would need to meet minimum standards for field surfaces and medical staffing. It also included caveats to protect teams should one of their players become injured during Olympic-related training or competition, such as a salary cap credit.

Players would need to tryout or qualify for their national team.

Well before the Olympic vote took place Tuesday, a handful of high-profile NFL players indicated their interest in taking part in the Olympics, including Mahomes, who in 2023 said that “if I can still move around then, I’m going to try to get out there and throw the football around maybe in L.A.”

Flag football isn’t a novel concept for the NFL, which introduced the format into its annual Pro Bowl Games exhibition in 2023, and has thrust its resources and support behind the creation of flag football leagues for men, women and kids across the country.

“Flag football has been growing dramatically here in the states as well as internationally,” Goodell said in April. “It’s brought young women into the sport and it’s given them a chance to play, which I think is incredibly valuable to our future and rewarding. So now to put it on that Olympic stage is really putting a seal of approval. And frankly it’s going to be a stage where a lot of athletes are going to want to participate in, including former and current players, so we’ll to have to work through it.”