Cairn University Adds Flag Football

Cairn University (Langhorne, Pennsylvania) is the third school this week that announced it is adding women's flag football. Cairn will field a club team for the 2025 spring season and become a varsity program in the 2025-26 academic year. Cairn will compete in the United East Conference in 2026 as the eighth team alongside Cedar Crest (PA), Gallaudet (D.C.), Keystone (PA), Lancaster Bible College (PA), Penn State Harrisburg (PA), Penn College (PA), and Rosemont (PA).

The United East will be one of seven NCAA conferences to sponsor women's flag football in 2026. The CIAA (D-II) and Atlantic East (D-III) sponsor the sport for the 2025 season with the Conference Carolinas (D-II), Empire 8 (D-III), and United East (D-III) joining in 2026. The NAIA's KCAC and Sun both sponsor women's flag football as well.

Earlier this week, Long Island University (NY) and PennWest California (PA) announced the addition of women's flag football. That pushes the number of future teams to at least 75 for the 2026 season, in addition to the over 100 club and varsity teams competing in the 2025 season.

In February, the NCAA recommended that flag football join the NCAA Emerging Sports for Women program, which provides a pathway to becoming a championship sport. All three divisions could end up sponsoring a championship sport in the future but require a minimum of 40 schools at the varsity level. Flag football will also make its Olympic debut in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games.