NFL, TMRW Sports Unveil Name For Pro Flag Football Leagues

So there is now some meat on this bone, but not a lot of meat. Like a B- hot wing.

Anyway, I’m conflicted.

On one hand, I believe we’re entering a world where sports participation and consumption will increase substantially, to levels that even the most bullish estimates aren’t accounting for. Existing major pro leagues won’t be able to meet demand, especially for in-person viewing, without substantially increasing the supply of their product. This is why we are already seeing skyrocketing ticket and hospitality prices— or as Reddit co-founder and investor Alexis Ohanian said, “The Wimbledon ticket is gonna continue to be even more exclusive, even more scarce, because there’s just a finite amount of access to it.” The major pro events will get more expensive and exclusive, creating a larger opportunity for secondary and upstart leagues.

Ergo, the rise of the WNBA, creation of NBA Europe and USL Premier, LOVB’s youth-to-pro pipeline, heavy investment in MLS Next Pro, and the NFL’s foray into pro flag.

ON THE OTHER HAND, there’s a graveyard of these sorts of efforts, and I’ve written before that I’m uncertain flag will ever become a meaningful consumer sport (obviously it’s an excellent participation sport). The announcement today being thin on infrastructure and business details, and rather focusing more on branding and social media strategy, raises more questions than it answers. Never mind the one-stadium nature of this indicating a made-for-TV product, which doesn’t capture the in-person demand I just talked about. There’s something inauthentic about The Shield trying to muscle out all competitors in a version of the sport that it doesn’t necessarily own but desperately wants to.

I’m way more bullish on the NFL expanding internationally, since it can create new supply of its core product with effectively no competition, than I am on it owning and succeeding in professional flag.