The NCAA took a giant step towards officially making women’s flag football a championship sport by 2028.

The association’s committee on access, opportunity and impact made a formal recommendation last week to add one of the nation’s fastest-growing sports. Before the sports can gain official championship status, all three NCAA divisions must approve the legislation by 2027.

Flag football continues to expand rapidly across the country and worldwide, attracting investment from the NFL and inclusion in the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics. The state of Florida has been ahead of the curve on the women’s sport as it provided significant investment at the high school ranks for years. The

Florida High School Athletics Association was the first state association to officially sanction the sport back in 2002. The Sunshine State now has over 450 schools and nearly 10,000 girls participating in flag across the region. In fact, two of the nation’s top programs, Robinson and Alonso High Schools, sit just 130 miles from Gainesville.

Florida schools could become major players in collegiate flag football as the state already possesses a strong football infrastructure and talent pipeline. The move to ratify the sport at the NCAA championship level could create scholarship and branding opportunities for SEC programs — Florida would land firmly in that mix.

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This article originally appeared on Gators Wire: Florida could benefit from NCAA women’s flag football expansion