High school girls flag football is coming to Minnesota this spring.

The Vikings announced Friday they’ll launch a league featuring 51 high schools that will culminate with a state championship game at June 9 at TCO Stadium in Eagan.

The NFL team piloted a smaller-scale program last year. This year, the Vikings said they will contribute $600,000 to support the league and participating schools. Last month, the Vikings announced the launch of a collegiate women’s league featuring local area colleges.

“This is an exciting time for women’s and girls’ flag football in Minnesota,” Vikings Vice President of Social Impact Brett Taber said in a release. “Since testing the pilot league in 2024, interest in girls flag football has increased dramatically at the high school level, and to see such a high number of schools participate this year is a tremendous sign for future growth.”

Teams will play double-headers on four consecutive Sundays from April 27 through May 18. Playoffs are set to begin on June 1 with the title bout slated for Monday, June 9.

The league will not be officially affiliated with the Minnesota State High School League. Girls flag football is not currently an MSHSL-sanctioned sport.

But that could eventually change.

MSHSL executive director Erich Martens said in a statement that as member schools consider and begin to offer the program, “we will continue discussing with MSHSL membership the sport’s popularity, growth and future in Minnesota and supporting the interests of our member schools and their students.”

The Associated Press reports there are 14 states that have sanctioned girls flag football as a high school varsity sport.  Nearly 500,000 girls ages 6 to 17 years old played flag football in 2023, per NFL FLAG.

The schools competing in the league’s first season are:

Anoka

Apple Valley

Benilde-St. Margaret’s

Big Lake

Bloomington Kennedy

Burnsville

Centennial

Champlin Park

DeLaSalle

Eagan

Eastview

Eden Prairie

Elk River

Fairmont

Farmington

Hopkins

La Crescent

Lakeville North

Lakeville South

Mahtomedi

Melrose

Minneapolis Camden

Minneapolis Edison

Minneapolis North

Minneapolis Roosevelt

Minneapolis South

Minneapolis Southwest

Minneapolis Washburn

Minnetonka

Monticello

Mounds View

North St. Paul

Park

Pine Island

Proctor

Richfield

Robbinsdale Cooper

Rochester Mayo

Rosemount

Roseville

Sartell

Simley

South St. Paul

Spring Lake Park

St. Cloud Tech

St. Louis Park

St. Michael-Albertville

Tartan

Two Rivers

Waterville-Elysian-Morristown

Woodbury

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