Apparel and collectibles giant Fanatics officially announced it will move its upcoming flag football event to Los Angeles from Saudi Arabia due to the war in the Middle East.
The Fanatics Flag Football Classic is still scheduled for March 21 and will keep its broadcast deal with Fox. But it will now be held at BMO Stadium, the home of LAFC and Angel City FC, a little over two years before the sport debuts at the LA Olympics in 2028.
In a making chicken salad out of chicken scratch move: The men's national team will now compete against two teams of current and former NFL stars, as well as celebrities.
Saquon Barkley, Tom Brady, Joe Burrow, Rob Gronkowski and Logan Paul are among the players tied to the event -- a round-robin tourney between the teams, followed by a championship game, under modified Olympic 5-v-5 rules.
There will be a draft to select the teams on Wednesday. It will be intriguing to see the names who actually make it on the board -- especially the active players.
Their participation made sense initially given the assumption the Public Investment Fund was writing checks so big they would offset any contractual losses if injured.
But will the money stay the same now that the event is in a soccer stadium in LA and not in Riyadh?
Nevertheless: This is an even better outcome for the sport’s commercial growth.
The broadcast times will be much better for U.S. fans -- likely increasing exposure.
Throwing Team USA into the mix also makes the event much more newsworthy — it’s no longer a made-for-TV spectacle; we are now going to see how pro players do against elite flag players.
That is a much easier sell to get air time on platforms like ESPN’s First Take before and after the event. And it will tell us something — although likely not everything — about what the roster should look like for the Summer Games.
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