GHSA to add fifth division to flag football as the sport continues to grow

One of the fastest growing high school sports in the state of Georgia continues to do just that as flag football continues to expand to reach uncharted parts of the Peach State.

During his weekly appearance on “Georgia High School Sports Daily” on Monday afternoon during the show’s “GHSA Check-In,” GHSA Executive Director Tim Scott announced the creation of another flag football division to the GHSA due to an overwhelming amount of new schools that have created flag football programs during the offseason.

“We’re really excited to see the new division next year, we’re adding a new division next year because of the number of teams,” said Scott. “We’ve added 32-35 more teams for this upcoming year than we had this past year.”

In 2024, one of the newest GHSA sanctioned sports was compiled of 268 schools across four divisions. Heading into the fall, the sport will expand to over 300 teams across five divisions, experiencing exponential growth in a short period of time.

With the help of the Atlanta Falcons in partnership with the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation, flag football teams around the state have been applying for grants to jumpstart or improve the schools flag football program.

Schools that will be starting their programs in the 2025 season will apply to receive a grant of $10,000 while schools that are applying with an existing program can apply for a $5,000 grant to improve their programs.

“One of the things that really helps with that is our relationship that we have with the Falcons and what they have done for the Georgia High School Association has been nothing short of amazing and we appreciate that partnership and being able to help those teams,” said Scott.

In his interview with Craig Sager II on the show, Scott stated that the GHSA’s Ernie Yarbrough has been working on new divisions for the sport that will be based on geographical areas.

The opening week of the 2025 GHSA Flag Football season will be highlighted by the 2025 Corky Kell + Dave Hunter Flag Football Classic on September 29 at West Forsyth High School.