Ithaca College graduate Brian Flinn is leading the NFL’s effort to expand flag football from youth leagues to professional opportunities and international competition after a career spent launching and reshaping sports businesses.
Flinn, a 1996 graduate, became the league’s senior vice president for global flag football after working in basketball, professional wrestling and the Pro Padel League, according to an Ithaca College profile.
He oversees efforts ranging from grassroots participation to the sport’s Olympic debut at the 2028 Los Angeles Games. The NFL’s youth leagues and tournaments involve about 2,000 leagues and nearly a million athletes, Flinn said.
The league works with Boys & Girls Clubs, YMCAs and schools to introduce flag football in physical education. It also works with high schools and the NCAA on coaching, officiating, health and wellness as the sport grows.
Building leagues and changing business models
When the NFL approached him in spring 2026, Flinn was chief operating officer of the Pro Padel League. Founded in 2022, the league had 10 franchises across the United States, Canada and Mexico playing a sport that combines elements of tennis and squash.
Flinn said the startup required him to handle duties ranging from commissioner-level decisions to basic marketing while working 90-hour weeks. The NFL offered a chance to apply that experience through a much larger organization.
His introduction to new league development came while working for the New York Knicks in 1996, when the WNBA was founded. He helped support the launch of the New York Liberty as the NBA-backed women’s league began.
After moving to the NBA league office in 2000, he worked as communications director on the launch of the NBA Development League, now the G League. The league created a development system for talented players outside NBA rosters.
He later became the NBA’s senior vice president of marketing, overseeing campaigns and brand positioning. In 2012, he moved to World Wrestling Entertainment, where he worked in marketing and communications during a shift away from individual pay-per-view purchases.
Flinn helped launch the direct-to-consumer WWE Network streaming service. The previous pay-per-view business generated about $90 million annually, he said; the app later brought in $200 million and was eventually licensed to NBCUniversal’s Peacock for $1 billion.
Ithaca opened a path into sports
At Ithaca, Flinn studied television-radio but realized he was more interested in the business of sports than broadcasting. Working with former sports management and media professor Ellen Staurowsky, he put together his own minor in sport studies.
He credited time with Staurowsky and former professors Jill Swenson and Frank Marra with helping him see career paths beyond on-air work. That background led into three decades of marketing, communications and business development across sports and entertainment.
The current flag football effort has a direct connection to his alma mater. Ithaca recently announced plans to field a women’s varsity team in spring 2028, part of an expanding college pipeline for athletes.
Flinn said women historically lacked some of the opportunities available in football and that flag programs are creating new ways to continue competing. Ithaca said girls’ high school participation has grown more than 550% over four years, citing national federation data.
Flag football is an NCAA emerging sport, with a January 2027 vote expected on championship status, and will enter the Olympics in 2028. Those developments put youth participation, college teams and international competition within the same expanding pathway.
Flinn described a common thread in his work as building brands, launching growth initiatives and changing established business models. His NFL role now puts those efforts behind flag football’s next stages.
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