The Kansas City Chiefs are putting their weight behind a push to bring girls’ flag football to Kansas high schools.
The team revealed an advertising campaign called “Let Her Play” on Thursday as it tries to persuade the Kansas State High School Activities Association, or KSHSAA, to make girls’ flag football a sanctioned sport in the state.
In a 55-second video, the Chiefs showcased several girls who already play the sport. The team also highlighted girls in Kansas who can only dream of representing their school by playing organized flag football.
The campaign comes ahead of an April 23 vote by the KSHSAA board on sanctioning the sport. The Chiefs said they believe support from KSHSAA would give more girls the chance to play and increase pathways to later play in college.
“There’s over 20 million people playing flag football worldwide right now,” Chiefs president Mark Donovan said Thursday. “Over half of a million girls [ages] 6 to 17 play flag. Right now, a girl in Kansas can’t play for a state championship and can’t play organized high school flag football. What this vote does is give them that opportunity.”
Let Her Play 🔥 We're proud to announce our support for sanctioning high school girls flag in Kansas.
— Kansas City Chiefs (@Chiefs) April 2, 2026
Donovan said the Chiefs have spent six years working to grow the sport among girls in Kansas. Based on data from the campaign, the Chiefs said high school girls’ flag football participation in Kansas grew 163 percent from 2024 to 2025.
Chiefs club owner Clark Hunt also spoke about the growth of the sport earlier this week at the NFL owners meeting.
“What we do know is flag, globally, is growing very fast,” Hunt said Monday at the NFL owners meeting. “It’s growing fast in the U.S., particularly the female demographic. There’s lots of positive statistics about a translation of people who played flag football becoming fans of the NFL. Long term, it’ll be very beneficial for the league.”
The KSHSAA vote will be decided by the board’s 73 members. The board includes high school principals, school board representatives, athletic directors and superintendents. At least 51 percent of the board must vote yes for the petition to pass.
If the petition passes, Kansas will become the 18th state to sanction girls’ flag football. The Chiefs also have the petition on their website for fans to sign.
The video ends with several prominent members of the Chiefs organization delivering the campaign’s final message. Coach Andy Reid, Donovan and players, including right guard Trey Smith, center Creed Humphrey and receiver Xavier Worthy shout, “Let Her Play,” as a call to action for the KSHSAA board.
Donovan said passage of the vote could become an early step for a future girls’ flag football player from Kansas, including one who could go on to compete in the 2028 Summer Olympics and maybe in a professional league.
“That would make it possible for a young girl in Kansas being able to play high school flag football for a state championship, get a full-ride scholarship to play college flag football, play on an Olympic flag football team and then after that play in a professional flag football league,” Donovan said Monday at the owners meeting. “That’s an exciting opportunity that we’ve been a real, real big supporter of.
“There’s probably some kids, boys and girls, who are potentially going to really focus on flag. Maybe they’re smaller, faster, quicker or [other] reasons why they’d be better at that than tackle football. It’s another opportunity for those kids.”
