Indiana's 'Road to 100' Is a Blueprint for Getting Girls Flag Football Sanctioned in Your State
Indiana funds girls flag football startups with grants and ref training — a sanctioning blueprint other states can copy.
If your league has ever stalled out trying to add a girls flag football team — not enough budget for uniforms, no trained officials, no clear path to get the sport recognized by your state athletic association — Indiana just published the playbook for fixing all three at once.
What's happening
The Indianapolis Colts and the Irsay family announced an update this week on their "Road to 100" campaign: 83 Indiana high schools have now committed to fielding girls flag football teams for the 2026 season, up from just 8 teams in 2023, 27 in 2024, and 78 in 2025. Hitting 100 schools is the trigger for full sanctioning by the Indiana High School Athletic Association (IHSAA) — the sport currently holds "emerging sport" status.
To close that gap, the Irsay family committed $1 million to fund up to $10,000 per school in startup grants, covering the $5,000–$8,000 it typically costs a school to launch a team (equipment, uniforms, coaching stipends). The campaign is also funding free training for 500 officials through a partnership with RefReps — directly targeting the referee shortage that quietly kills a lot of new girls programs before they start.
Why this matters beyond Indiana
Girls flag football is already fully sanctioned in states including Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, and Tennessee, with pilot programs running in nearly twenty more. What Indiana is demonstrating is less about flag football specifically and more about what it actually takes to move a state from "pilot" to "sanctioned":
▸ A funding source that removes the startup-cost excuse for individual schools
▸ A parallel investment in officiating, since a shortage of trained refs is one of the most common reasons emerging programs stall
▸ A public, countable target (100 schools) that turns a vague goal into a campaign parents and administrators can rally behind
For organizers in states still stuck at pilot status, this is a template worth taking to your athletic association or local team foundation: pair a school-count goal with startup grants and official training, and ask what it would take to replicate it. National resources already exist to help make that case — USA Football's Girls Flag Grant program funds similar startup costs outside Indiana.
What to do with this if you're an organizer or parent
If you're trying to get a girls program off the ground, or you're a parent wondering why your daughter's school doesn't have one yet, the honest answer is usually money and officials — not interest. Indiana's numbers say the interest is already there once those two barriers come down.
Curious how your area stacks up? Use Find a League to see what's already running near you, browse the full league directory, or check tournament listings if your team is looking for its next competition. For more on where the sport is headed this season, keep up with the Flag Football Finder blog.
Sources: Colts.com — 'Road to 100': Girls High School Flag Football Update, FlagSnap — State-by-State Mapping of the Girls' Flag Football Revolution, USA Football — Girls Flag Grant