NFL to allow some players to compete at 2028 Olympic Games

Flag football is part of the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. We found out on Tuesday, that the National Football League wants to be part of it. With flag football making its Olympic debut, the NFL owners passed a resolution allowing players to participate according to Grant Gordon of nfl.com.

At first glance, I was actually extremely excited about the NFL’s decision. I though it would be a monumental day in high performance international sport. The National Basketball Association has allowed its best players to compete at the Olympic Games at every Olympic Games since the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, and the National Hockey League has allowed its best players to compete at five Olympic Winter Games since the 1998 Olympic Winter Games in Nagano.

However, the NFL’s decision on Tuesday should come with significant criticism. The bottom line it is a terrible decision to allow only one American player and only one international player per team to participate. Even though the NFL gave 64 players an opportunity to live their Olympic dream, many high performance football players will not be given an opportunity to participate.

Team USA on paper would obviously be the heavy favourites. Kansas City Chiefs quarterback Patrick Mahomes of Tyler, Texas has already expressed his interest. If Mahomes goes to represent the Americans, he cannot have any other of his Chiefs teammates join him on his team. That folks, simply does not make sense.

Another factor is the rules. How is flag football (other than the tackling element), different from four down football? Will the players need to learn a completely different form of football to succeed? Time will tell.

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