Key Takeaways
- Girls flag football drew 102,360 high school participants at 3,990 schools in 2025-26, up 48.7 percent, per the NFHS participation survey.
- The three-year corporate partnership makes FlagStat the exclusive statistics platform for the NFHS, covering live scoring, rosters and game reporting.
- FlagStat already scored the 2026 FHSAA flag football state playoffs and has imported stats to MaxPreps as an official partner since early 2026.
- NFHS expects 37 states to sanction girls flag football or run independent or pilot programs by the 2026-27 school year.
The National Federation of State High School Associations (NFHS) has signed a three-year corporate partnership naming FlagStat the Official and Exclusive Flag Football Statistics Platform of the NFHS, the organization announced September 14, 2026. The deal arrives as girls flag football participation reached 102,360 athletes at 3,990 schools in 2025-26, a 48.7 percent increase over the prior year, according to the NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey. Financial terms were not disclosed.
What the NFHS and FlagStat Partnership Covers
Under the agreement, the NFHS and FlagStat will provide schools, coaches and state associations with technology built specifically for flag football, the NFHS said. That includes live scorekeeping, statistical tracking, roster management and game reporting.
FlagStat delivers real-time play-by-play scoring and automatically compiles individual and team statistics during a game, according to the release. The platform records passing, rushing, receiving and defensive numbers and produces box scores, game reports and season-long statistical summaries. Coaches can turn individual or team stats into Instagram posts or export data directly to MaxPreps. A separate product, FlagStat League, gives administrators overseeing multiple teams a way to manage an entire program.
As an NFHS Corporate Partner, FlagStat also gains access to the NFHS membership through the federation’s platforms, events and educational initiatives, per the announcement. That reach covers coaches, athletic administrators and other leaders in education-based athletics across NFHS member state associations.
“Flag football is experiencing tremendous growth across the country, and as more schools and state associations add the sport, it is important to have resources that are built specifically for the needs of flag football programs,” NFHS Executive Director Davis Whitfield said in the release.
How Fast Is High School Flag Football Growing?
The participation figures behind the deal come from the 2025-26 NFHS High School Athletics Participation Survey. Per that survey, 102,360 girls played flag football at 3,990 schools nationwide, up 48.7 percent from the previous year.
The NFHS expects 37 states to either sanction girls flag football or conduct independent or pilot programs by the 2026-27 school year, according to the announcement. Each state that moves from pilot to sanctioned status brings new schools, new coaches and new games that need to be scored and reported, which is the workflow FlagStat is built to handle.
FlagStat CEO Bradley Metrock described the company’s goal in the release: “We want to change how flag football coaches view in-game statistics and reporting, from just another burden for overworked staffs, to something joyful that their program can be built upon.”
FlagStat’s Existing Footprint With State Associations and MaxPreps
The NFHS deal is not FlagStat’s first work at the state association level. The platform served as the official scoring platform for the 2026 Florida High School Athletic Association Flag Football State Playoffs, per the NFHS.
FlagStat supports three rulesets, NFHS, NFL FLAG and NIRSA, according to the release, which lets one product serve high school programs, NFL-affiliated youth leagues and collegiate recreation. The company has also been an official MaxPreps Stat Import Partner since the beginning of 2026, meaning statistics logged in FlagStat can flow into the CBS Sports-owned MaxPreps database that compiles high school records and rankings.
From Florida’s State Playoffs to a 37-State Footprint
The partnership gives FlagStat a three-year window that lines up with the period in which the NFHS expects 37 states to be sanctioning or piloting girls flag football. For the NFHS, it provides a single exclusive statistics partner to point member associations toward as the sport moves from pilot to sanctioned status in more states.
Florida already ran its 2026 state playoffs on the platform. The open question is how many of the other 36 states follow that lead and put FlagStat on the scoreboard for their own postseason.
Source: NFHS, September 14, 2026, https://nfhs.org/stories/nfhs-welcomes-flagstat-as-official-and-exclusive-flag-football-statistics-platform
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How big is the youth sports market?
American families spend approximately $54 billion annually on kids’ sports and recreation, according to the YSBR and Kinetica Group Youth Sports TAM & Parent Spending Report, with organized sports alone representing a $40 billion-plus market. The average family spent $1,016 on a child’s primary sport in 2024, up 46 percent since 2019, per the Aspen Institute’s Project Play, and market research projects the global youth sports market will reach approximately $114 billion by 2032 (Business Research Insights).
How many kids play youth sports in the United States?
Approximately 27.3 million children ages 6 to 17, or about 54.6 percent, played organized sports in 2022-2023, according to the National Survey of Children’s Health as reported by the Aspen Institute’s Project Play. High school sports participation reached a record 8.26 million athletes in 2024-25, per the NFHS.
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Youth Sports Marketing Questions, Answered
Where can brands sponsor youth sports? Brands can sponsor youth sports through local leagues and clubs, tournaments and events, facilities and complexes, governing bodies, and national platform programs. Sponsoring a child’s own program is the most powerful entry point: 81 percent of parents say it captures their attention, outperforming TV, social media, and pro sports sponsorship, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study conducted by YouGov Sport.
How much does youth sports sponsorship cost? Youth sports sponsorship costs range from a few thousand dollars for a local league or team sponsorship to six and seven figures for regional facility naming rights and national platform programs. The environment is welcoming at every level: 84 percent of parents hold net positive sentiment toward brands sponsoring youth sports, with negative sentiment under 5 percent, per YouGov Sport research. Most brands start with a pilot activation, measure engagement, then scale.
What is the ROI of youth sports marketing? The data is striking: 80 percent of parents say they would choose the brand that sponsors their child’s youth sports program when comparing two similar products, per a 2026 Priority Partnerships study by YouGov Sport. A 2026 EMARKETER and DICK’S Media survey found 84 percent of sports parents say that role influences their purchase decisions, and 60 percent spend more on game and practice days, driving loyalty across categories from dining to travel to automotive.
Ready to build a youth sports strategy? Vertical Sports is an Advisory+ delivering integrated expertise across all levels of sport. Youth, College, Pro. Every Fan, Every Level. Brands and youth sports organizations can reach the team at info@verticalsports.us.
