Gwynedd Valley, Pa. – (8/20/2026) – Meeting the demand of the current generation of student-athlete, Gwynedd Mercy University Director of Athletics Keith Mondillo is pleased to announce the addition of women's flag football to the Griffins' continuously growing catalog of intercollegiate athletic teams. "Women's flag football is exploding," opened Mondillo. "The NCAA (National Collegiate Athletic Association) added it to the Emerging Sports for Women program last January and it will be an Olympic sport for the 2028 games in Los Angeles. We are conducting a Nation-wide search for our first head coach and we look forward to kicking off Griffin flag football this spring!" Women's flag football brings Gwynedd Mercy University's intercollegiate athletics program total to 19; the University announced the addition of men's volleyball – which will also begin competition in the spring of 2027 - in May of 2025.
 
Flag football has been one of the fastest-growing sports at the youth, high school and collegiate levels. Since the Emerging Sports for Women program was created in 1994, eight sports have successfully become NCAA championship sports, including rowing (1996), ice hockey (2000), water polo (2000), bowling (2003), beach volleyball (2015) and wrestling (2025). In 2026, representatives from all three divisions approved the recommendation to add flag football and two other emerging sports — acrobatics and tumbling, and stunt — as NCAA championship sports for the 2026-2027 academic year.
 
Gwynedd Mercy University will sponsor women's flag football as a varsity sport with competition beginning in spring of 2027 as a member of the Atlantic East Conference (AEC). The AEC's current membership includes NCAA Division III institutions Centenary University (N.J.), Eastern University, Immaculata University, Marymount University, Marywood University, Neumann University, Penn State Schuylkill, as well as local NCAA Division II institutions Chestnut Hill College and Holy Family University.