The Woodlands High School and College Park could field girls' flag football teams as early as the 2028-29 school year. The University Interscholastic League (UIL) voted Monday, Oct. 19, to launch a pilot program open to Class 5A and 6A schools.

The UIL legislative council approved the proposal at its annual fall meeting in Austin, as first reported by ABC13. The pilot will include no more than two classifications, with smaller schools potentially allowed to play up. The Woodlands and College Park both compete in Class 6A.

The vote still needs final approval from the Texas Commissioner of Education. UIL staff will develop rules and guidelines and present an implementation plan at the June 2027 legislative council meeting, according to the Houston Chronicle. The program would include a state championship in each conference, with district and regional qualifying events.

One major question: when will the games be played?

UIL executive director Jamey Harrison said staff would evaluate every option. "We will consider all 12 months of the calendar," Harrison said, according to the Dallas Morning News.

UIL director of athletics Ray Zepeda said a spring season could conflict with track and field's postseason meets. The UIL does not want to discourage multi-sport athletes, Zepeda said. A fall season would run into a statewide shortage of game officials, since football and volleyball already stretch that pool.

The sport has grown fast in Texas. The Houston Texans and Dallas Cowboys have funded non-sanctioned leagues involving more than 240 schools and nearly 5,500 athletes, according to the Fort Worth Star-Telegram.

Hannah McNair, chief community officer and vice president of the Houston Texans Foundation, said at the June UIL legislative council meeting that 270 schools and nearly 6,000 athletes were expected to participate by 2027. Ninety-six Houston-area schools are in the Texans' flag football program, according to the team.

But the NFL franchises' money does not flow to the UIL itself. Susan Bohn, chair of the UIL's Standing Committee on Athletics, said at the Oct. 19 meeting that the sport grew quickly because it had a guaranteed funding source in the Cowboys and Texans.

"The NFL is not giving money to the UIL," Bohn said, according to the Dallas Morning News. "But they would commit to some level of funding for some period of time for schools that want to start a flag program."

That leaves school districts weighing costs on their own. Pasadena ISD athletic director Patrick Longstreet told ABC13 that his district's teams are funded by the Texans and that the transition raises real concerns. "There's a lot of costs associated with it when you talk about teams and uniforms and officials …" Longstreet said.

A fall 2026 UIL survey of Texas superintendents found that 52% of respondents from Class 5A and 6A schools favored sanctioning girls' flag football. The survey also found 165 schools already participate in the sport, according to the Houston Chronicle.

Flag football is set to make its Olympic debut in 2028, and 25 states are expected to have sanctioned the girls' high school sport by fall 2027, according to the Star-Telegram. School districts will choose whether to join the pilot.

The UIL plans to present its implementation plan at the June 2027 legislative council meeting. Whether Conroe ISD and its Woodlands-area campuses opt in will depend on what that plan looks like.