NCAA Adds 4 Women’s Championships, Designates Flag Football as Emerging Sport

By FAITH WILKINS/Contributor

The National Collegiate Athletic Association adopted four new women’s national championships and added women’s flag football to the Emerging Sports for Women program during its 2026 NCAA Convention in Washington, D.C. earlier this year.

• Acrobatics and tumbling — now an official NCAA championship sport, with its first national title scheduled for spring 2027.
• Stunt — a competitive cheer discipline that also transitions from emerging status to full championship sport, debuting in spring 2027.

• Division II women’s bowling — elevated to its own championship beginning spring 2028.

• Division III women’s wrestling — awarded a separate championship starting spring 2028, providing Division III student-athletes a competition aligned with their division’s structure.

This marked the first time in NCAA history that four championships were approved at a single convention and reflects longstanding growth in women’s collegiate sports sponsorship, the NCAA said in a news release

FLAG FOOTBALL

Women’s flag football was added to the NCAA’s Emerging Sports for Women program.

The emerging sports designation creates a formal pathway toward full NCAA championship status: a sport must be sponsored by at least 40 varsity programs and satisfy minimum participation standards to qualify, effective immediately.

Flag football sponsorship data from summer 2025 indicated around 40 schools planned to field varsity teams in the 2025-26 academic year, with projections estimating as many as 60 could compete in spring 2026, the announcement said.

EMERGING SPORTS

Unlike championship sports, emerging sports allow institutions to count sponsorship toward gender equity requirements while supporting growth and competition in newer disciplines. NCAA leadership said the moves expand opportunities for women athletes nationwide and reflect evolving interests on campuses.

Institutions sponsoring flag football this spring will contribute toward the sport’s progress toward future NCAA championship eligibility.