The Great Falls Public Schools board voted unanimously during their March 23 meeting to establish girls flag football as a club activity for the next two school years.

The activity will fall under the athletic director and be funded by a grant from the Arthur Blank Family Foundation.

Both Great Falls High and C.M. Russell High schools are eligible for $15,000 each, for a total of $30,000 in grant funding per year.

Lance Boyd, assistant superintendent, said that the proposed flag football budget for its short six to seven-week season is just shy of $15,000 per school per year.

“GFPS is very confident that Arthur Blank Grant will cover the costs of each of the first two years of this club activity,” according to the GFPS staff report.

GFPS considering girls flag football as club sport

Blank is the owner of the Atlanta Falcons football team and co-founder of The Home Depot.

Mike Henneberg, GFPS athletic director, told the board during their March 9 meeting that Blank is a part-time resident of the Paradise Valley and first offered funding for girls flag football to Montana school districts five years ago.

Boyd said that just before the March 23 meeting, GFPS was notified that it was eligible to submit a full application to Under Armour for up to $30,000 in one-time funding.

Boyd told the school board that their intention was to use the Under Armour funding as seed money to start flag football if it becomes a Montana High School Association-sanctioned sport in a few years.

Amie Thompson, school board member, said that some colleges play girls flag football in the spring and asked if the season would change.

Boyd said until it becomes an MHSA-sport, there’s no intention of moving it from the fall, but there could be changes as needed in the future.

Kim Skornogoski, school board member, said she’d been on the board since 2017 and they hadn’t had many opportunities to add things.

“Bravo on making that happen,” she told district staff.

The district has been discussing the emerging sport for the last five years and for the last six months, studying the level of interest among middle and high school students.

Henneberg told the board during their March 9 meeting that the opportunity for flag football came to Montana through the Arthur Blank Family Foundation.

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He said that three schools participated the first year and the sport has grown exponentially since in Montana and nationally.

Blank has been funding and promoting girls flag football through the Atlanta Falcons, an effort that has spread to other NFL franchises, Henneberg said earlier this month.

Girls flag football is now sanctioned as a high school sport in 15 states and piloted in 22 states, including Montana.

It was featured during the Super Bowl and will be a sport during the 2028 Olympics, Henneberg said, also emerging at the NCAA collegiate level.

Girls flag football is currently a club sport in Kalispell, Butte, Missoula, Billings and some Class A-C schools, he said, with Bozeman, Belgrade, Helena and Great Falls considering it, pending board approval.

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Henneberg said he doesn’t anticipate it being a sanctioned high school sport for a few more years, but adding it as a club sport would give the district time to grow the program and prepare for that change.

The district surveyed students and families for grades 7-12 in the fall, with 417 students and 86 parents responding.

Henneberg said 160 students indicated they were interested or very interested in girls flag football, and 108 indicated they would participate if the club sport was offered.

“We feel there’s adequate interest in continuing the conversation,” Henneberg said.

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He said the district could build a program within the Arthur Blank grant funding amounts, and the Under Armor grant award.

Henneberg told the board during the March 9 meeting that the district has existing facilities and student interest for club girls flag football, and he’s worked out a 10-game schedule to start, with two road trips so travel would be limited.

The season would be similar to golf, from August to early October and coach salaries would mirror golf, he said.

At this point, adding the club sport won’t affect Title 9 for GFPS, but if it’s added as a sanctioned sport, the district would have to review those numbers to ensure compliance.

Henneberg said he didn’t want to add something that would affect existing girls sports, but over the last five years, there hasn’t been a big change in girls sports numbers.

He said he’s seen some girls who want to play volleyball, but have limited opportunity to make the team, and those who don’t are playing other girls sports.

Citywide, Henneberg said there’s a large number of kids who want to do something active and competitive in the fall if they don’t make the volleyball team, but aren’t playing sports, so girls flag football might provide that opportunity.

The powder puff game at C.M. Russell High School is popular, he said, which shows interest in girls flag football.

District officials have had some internal conversations about how the sport would be sustained once the three-year foundation grant ends, and Henneberg said during the March 9 meeting that they have some ideas and are exploring other funding opportunities.