The North Carolina High School Athletics Association has officially sanctioned girls' flag football as a varsity sport, enabling girls to compete for state championships after a four-and-a-half-year grassroots effort thanks in part to the Carolina Panthers.
The David and Nicole Tepper Foundation has committed an additional $1 million to support the sport's growth in both North and South Carolina, bringing their total investment to $2.5 million.
Other WRAL Top Stories
Panthers Director of Community Relations Riley Fields says girls can now dream of competing at the varsity level, creating aspirational pathways that didn't exist years ago.
"The trickle-down effect of that is, you know, growing the female fan base, and certainly that is a huge percentage of the Panthers fan base," Fields said. "To be able to pull in a whole new population or segment of girls that maybe has never been exposed to the sport is something that's really exciting."
Over the last few seasons we've seen more women get involved in football on a professional level, even with the Carolina Panthers. In 2022 Kristi Coleman was named the Panthers team president, a position she still holds.
In 2019, Eden, North Carolina native Jennifer King earned an internship on the coaching staff, eventually leading her to become the NFL's first full time African American female coach in 2020 with the Washington Commanders.
Jordan Trgovac has been a key Panthers scout team member for the last three seasons and even led the scouting of 2026 Panthers third round draft pick Chris Brazzell II. Her father Mike Trgovac was a member of the Panthers coaching staff from 2002-08.
Fields believes there will be more of these stories of women in leading positions in the NFL years down the line because of Flag Football becoming sanctioned as a high school sport in our state.
"I keep talking about the access and the opportunities, with that access and the opportunity to the game, who knows where it could take them," Fields said.
Fields and the Panthers have been working with state leaders and school districts for the last four and half years to bring Flag Football for girls to fruition. Fields says the state of South Carolina is close to sanctioning Flag Football as a girls sport themselves.
"I think providing regional support is something that's always been really important to David and Nicole Tepper," Fields said.
"And, you know, we're regional by definition," he continued. "We're the Carolina Panthers and so this has been an amazing opportunity for us to reach out across both states and work collectively with school districts."
Girls flag football was first introduced to the state in 2022 when the Carolina Panthers led a pilot season with the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Schools district. More than 100 schools in the state currently play the sport, though some play it in winter and others in the spring. Durham County Memorial Stadium is already scheduled to be the location of the first official state championships in Flag Football next season.
The sport is also growing at the collegiate level. The Big South Conference became the first Division I conference to declare varsity flag football beginning spring 2028. Conference Carolinas became the first Division II conference nationally to commit to women's varsity flag football. Plus, the CIAA, the conference Shaw University and Fayetteville State University compete in, has committed to going varsity in Flag Football in 2028.
Being on the forefront of this growth, has been personally gratifying for Fields.
"I've got to say, this is probably (the) number one (achievement), like out of my professional career," Fields said. "Like this is real transformational generational change."
"How can you not be fulfilled by that?" Fields concluded.