ARLINGTON, Texas — To open Women's History Month, the Dallas Cowboys announced today the formation of regional High School Girls Flag Football Leagues across the State of Texas which will begin competitive play this Spring 2025 with support from the team and its partners.
Dallas Cowboys Co-Owner and Chief Brand Officer Charlotte Jones was joined by Quarterback Dak Prescott and Stephanie Kwok, National Football League Vice President of Flag Football at AT&T Stadium for the kickoff press announcement.
The group shared information about the benefits of playing flag football – physical and mental fitness, inclusivity, sportsmanship, teamwork, confidence and more – as well as detailing the growth of varsity girls flag football in Texas and the team's advocacy to see the sport sanctioned by the Texas UIL.
"The Dallas Cowboys are excited to see the exponential growth of varsity girls flag football in the State of Texas. Since we first partnered with Fort Worth ISD on their pilot program in 2022, the number of schools fielding teams has exploded," said Jones. "The life lessons and values these young ladies will learn from the game of football extend well beyond touchdowns and teamwork. We are also thrilled that with girls' flag football becoming an emerging sport at the collegiate level, the game can now provide these young women a path to continuing their education at a higher level as well."
As part of the day, 32 of the 54 Dallas-Fort Worth area high school girls flag football programs attended a Jersey Reveal and Media Day surprise and delight event at AT&T Stadium, with student-athletes seeing their game jerseys for the first time and participating in a content photo and video shoot that included headshots, team photos, and other social media moments.
"The game of football has given me so much," said Prescott. "Now, as a 'Girl Dad' myself, I want to thank the girls for paving the way today, and for breaking barriers to grow the game. It is important to have female role models in sports and I am thankful that the Dallas Cowboys and the NFL are helping create new opportunities. Having flag football as a way to motivate and inspire a healthy body and mind for girls is something we can all appreciate and support."
Over the last nine months, the Dallas Cowboys have worked with school districts and partners across the state to form varsity-level 7-on-7 programs which will play competitively in the Spring of 2025.
These districts include:
- Dallas Independent School District – 22 Campuses
- Carrollton-Farmers Branch Independent School District – 4 Campuses
- Crowley Independent School District – 2 Campuses
- Cedar Hill Independent School District – 1 Campus, 2 Teams
- Arlington Independent School District – 6 Campuses
- Uplift Education – 2 Campuses
- Duncanville Independent School District – 1 Campus
- DeSoto Independent School District – 1 Campus
- Fort Worth Independent School District – 15 Campuses, 16 Teams
- Austin Independent School District – 13 Campuses
- El Paso Region 19 Female Flag Football Pilot – 19 Campuses
"My only regret is that they did not have girls flag football when I was growing up in Laredo. I was pretty good at ballet, but I bet I would have been even better at quarterback," said Dallas ISD Superintendent of Schools Dr. Stephanie Elizalde, who is supporting the growth of high school girls flag football by committing all 22 Dallas ISD schools to play this Spring. "I am grateful that this opportunity exists now, though, and I am counting on the 22 high schools in Dallas ISD to bring home the first girls flag football state championship in Texas history."
The regional leagues will play throughout the months of 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.
In El Paso's Region 19, the Dallas Cowboys are collaborating with the NFL and Houston Texans to support 38 high school teams, representing eight West Texas school districts as part of the Region 19 Female Flag Football Pilot and Championship. With assistance from the El Paso Sports Commission and City of El Paso, the NFL hosted a kickoff event in February in which participating schools "drafted" their NFL market team affiliation, with the Cowboys taking 19 schools and the Houston Texans taking the remaining 19 campuses.
Since 2016, there has been a concerted effort from the NFL, its 32 Clubs and football partners to increase high school girls flag football participation across the country. Through these collaborative efforts, over 500,000 female participants between the ages of 6 -17 play flag football across the United States.
At the high school level, 14 state athletic associations (Alabama, Alaska, Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Georgia, Hawaii, Illinois, Nevada, New York, Pennsylvania, Tennessee, and Mississippi) have officially sanctioned girls' flag football as a varsity sport. Over 50 colleges and universities are offering flag football as a women's varsity sport across the NAIA, NJCAA, and NCAA in advance of the game premiering at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.
"Flag football is one of the fastest growing sports, and that momentum has only accelerated with its inclusion in the 2028 Olympics," said Kwok. "Texas has always been a home of top football talent: six members of the USA Football Women's Flag National Team hail from Texas. The new regional High School Girls Flag Football Leagues supported by the Dallas Cowboys will provide even more opportunities for girls to compete in flag football, earn a college scholarship, and vie for an opportunity to represent their country in the Olympics."
The initiative is also spearheaded by Danny McCray, former NFL and Cowboys defensive back who has thrown his passion into seeing the league succeed and grow exponentially in both the past and in the years to come — currently operating as the manager of youth football development for the Cowboys and working in several capacities to push its growth since 2022.
He also oversees upwards of 40 camps annually from football, flag football (boys and girls), cheer and dance.
"It's huge," McCray said of the Girl's Flag Football League. "We've put a lot of work in to make sure these young ladies have the opportunity to play this game and perhaps get full scholarships to go to college and possibly play in the Olympics. It's huge to see this get put together like this. We're excited about it.
"With the work Charlotte (Jones) has done and of course, the Gene & Jerry Jones Foundation, it's an example that once the Cowboys get behind something, just how quickly everyone else does as well. The Cowboys have been at the forefront of this, and it's helped move the needle and shine some light on this sport."
McCray also addressed the girls to not only congratulate them, but to also remind them of the accountability of giving it their all with every rep during every practice and in every game.
Officially, and as McCray mentioned, the Cowboys are working in partnership with Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation and also the NFL, but additional corporate partnerships include USA Football, NFL FLAG, Nike, Bridgestone, Oakley, and others to support the formation of varsity-level girls flag football leagues across the State of Texas, with the goal of having the sport adopted statewide by the UIL.
Each school district participating in the Dallas Cowboys high school girls flag football regional leagues received grant funds to assist with coaching stipends and other start-up costs, team uniforms, equipment packages from USA Football, coaching education, and general support from NFL FLAG.
In partnership with the Cowboys, Nike is providing game jerseys for all schools playing in the club's high school girls flag football leagues this Spring at no cost to the school or student-athlete. This contribution demonstrates Nike's continued commitment to bringing girls into the game of flag football, creating gender equity in high school athletics, and supporting and inspiring the next generation of female athletes.
In addition to jerseys, Nike has provided student-athletes the opportunity to learn more about the game during the brand's annual Girls Flag Football Jamboree hosted at Ford Center at The Star in January and will present a Girls Flag Football Kickoff Weekend on March 22 at B.F. Phillips Park in Frisco for all participating teams to experience a series of exhibition games in advance of their official season start.
Bridgestone joined the Dallas Cowboys in growing the game of girls flag football by supporting the club's Southern Region League – Cedar Hill Red, Cedar Hill Black, Crowley, North Crowley, Duncanville, DeSoto, Uplift Grand Preparatory School and Uplift Hampton Preparatory School. Through this partnership, Bridgestone provided grant funds for each school – including transportation stipends, game day logistic costs and more. Schools playing in the Southern Region will also wear a special Bridgestone Dallas Cowboys patch on their jersey as part of this collaboration.
Oakley, a proud partner of the Dallas Cowboys, USA Football and NFL FLAG will be hosting a girls flag football Coaches Clinic on March 4 at Thomas Jefferson High School in Dallas to elevate the flag football landscape and provide young athletes and coaches with resources, empowering opportunities and access to top-quality equipment, including Oakley's sun and prescription eyewear. The clinic will feature USA Football Master Trainers and Dallas Cowboys Youth Football Development coaches, sharing flag football specific skills and techniques, game plans, practice planning and rules emphasis. Referees from the Texas Association of Sports Officials will also be in attendance in anticipation of covering the high school girls flag football games across the season.
Other Dallas Cowboys partners collaborating with the club on the success of the Girls Flag Football regional leagues include: Kendra Scott, Gatorade, and DairyMAX.
In 2022, the Dallas Cowboys worked with Fort Worth ISD to launch a Spring pilot league for girls' flag football, which included 16 teams (representing 15 schools) and more than 300 student-athletes. Made possible through partial funding from Gene and Jerry Jones Family Foundation, the NFL Foundation and Nike, the Fort Worth ISD girls flag football league was one of the first scholastically organized female flag efforts for a public school system in the State of Texas. Now entering Year 4 of play, the Fort Worth program has served as a model for the Cowboys new regional girls flag football leagues across the State of Texas.
In total, the high school programs assisted by the Dallas Cowboys and their partners this Spring will impact approximately 2,000 female student-athletes through the game of flag football.
For more information about this effort, visit www.DallasCowboys.com/GirlsFlag.
