Husker women’s flag football team headed to Vegas for CFP Flag Football Showcase
By Aaron Bonderson 
, Reporter/Producer Nebraska Public Media
Sept. 3, 2026, 3:47 p.m. ·
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The Nebraska women’s flag football team will head to Las Vegas in late January for a showcase hosted by the College Football Playoff and iFlag, an international flag football organization. The CFP Flag Football Showcase was announced earlier this week by the two organizations and confirmed by Husker Athletics on Thursday.
University-sponsored programs at Nebraska, Manhattan University, Eastern Michigan and Cal Poly will compete in the varsity division, a social media post by Troy Vincent Sr., executive vice president of operations at the NFL, said.
Husker head coach Liz Sowers told Nebraska Public Media News last week “there's a rivalry there already” with Cal Poly. In the early days of college flag football, she said the Mustangs will provide one of the stiffest tests for her team.
The latest update follows news that NU women’s flag football — the only Power Four conference school currently sponsoring the sport — would move up its inaugural season to this spring. The school previously said 2028 would be the first official year, but new, age-based eligibility rules passed by the NCAA accelerated those plans.
The 2027 games are not NCAA sanctioned events. Officially sanctioned matches will start in 2028.
The showcase will look to capitalize on college football excitement. It’s scheduled for Jan. 22-24 at the Las Vegas Convention Center, ending one day before the College Football Playoff National Championship game, which is also being played in Las Vegas.
There are a number of divisions outside of varsity women’s flag football that will compete in the showcase, according to an iFlag informational page. The seven-on-seven Collegiate Women's division will play three pool play games followed by a playoff round.
A number of notable colleges in the western United States will send their club teams to the event. That means these schools haven’t officially sponsored women’s flag football yet and will compete in a different division. Those teams include USC, California, Oklahoma, UCLA, Arizona and Arizona State.