ASTON, Pa. – Earlier this month, at the NCAA Convention in Washington, DC, it was announced that Women's Flag Football has been named an Emerging Sport for 2026.
 
An emerging sport is a women's sport recognized by the NCAA that is intended to help schools provide more athletics opportunities for women and more sport-sponsorship options for institutions, while helping that sport achieve NCAA Championship status.
 
Since the creation of the Emerging Sports for Women program in 1994, eight sports have become championship sports: beach volleyball, rowing, ice hockey, water polo, bowling, wrestling, stunt and acrobatics and tumbling. With this announcement, implementation will begin immediately across all three divisions of play, including Neumann University's participation in Division III.
 
Neumann Women's Flag Football head coach, Nellie Mixon, is excited about the possibilities. "It's been a long time coming and we're just getting started", she said. "We're endlessly grateful to the NCAA for continuing to plant the seeds and invest in the growth of our sport. To every girl who was ever told football was a "man's sport": never let anyone diminish your worth simply because they can't see your vision. You belong here. The future is bright and the best is still ahead."
 
Matt Lawson, the Knights' General Manager had this to say about the announcement. "I am thrilled to see that the DIII voted with such a vast majority to elevate our sport to the emerging sports for women list. This is major milestone in the process to make Flag an NCAA Championship Sport. Young ladies across the country have for too long been told, football is a "man's sport" and that they "do not belong" in this game. We see now that they in fact do belong & are excelling at it!  Women's Flag Football is here to stay, and the Knights are ready to take the field. I am honored to be part of this great initiative.  
 
Neumann will be among at least 40 schools that are expected to participate during the 2025-26 academic year, with that number potentially rising to 60, according to the NCAA. The Knights will begin their third season as an athletic program in the Spring of 2026, and their third as a member of the Atlantic East Conference.  The schedule begins with a home tri-match with Penn State Schuylkill and Marywood University on Saturday, March 7^th. Other members of the Atlantic East Conference include Holy Family, Eastern, Immaculata, Chestnut Hill, Centenary, and Marymount. The top four teams will meet at the conference championships on Saturday, April 25^th.