On a rainy Saturday in April, the TCO Performance Center in Eagan, the headquarters of the NFL’s Vikings, was filled with dozens of high school athletes posing for photos, making TikToks and throwing a football around while photographers and videographers captured the moments on camera.

The girls were there for Content Capture Day, sponsored by the Vikings, to promote the upcoming girls flag football season.

In between posing for photos, athletes took turns touring the facility, meeting athletes from other schools and sharing their reasons for wanting to participate in the growing league.

“When I was younger, I always loved playing football,” said Breck sophomore Kendra Swanson. “I would always try to play football with my friends, but when I was younger, it used to be considered a man’s sport, so I could never play, so now playing flag football, I feel like I’m a role model for younger girls who have the same aspirations.”

Breck is one of more than 50 schools joining the Vikings-sponsored girls flag football league this spring, growing the number of participating schools from 51 in 2025 to 104 in 2026.

The second season begins April 26 and concludes June 8 with the state championship tournament at TCO.

In past years, Joe Rush, the Vikings director of youth and high school football, had to recruit schools to join the league. Now, school activity directors are asking the Vikings whether they can join after a successful 2025 season.

“So, it’s really just rising the tide on what it means to be a football community, getting more people engaged in the sport and feeling that they have a place and an identity in football,” Rush said.

All 51 schools from the 2025 season will be returning, including Spring Lake Park, which has seen interest in the sport triple in the last year.

“Last year, we had a lot of girls from all different walks of life and athletes, non-athletes come out,” Spring Lake coach Tucker Olinger said. “We had about 20 or so that participated last year. This year, we’re over 60 girls, and we’re trying our hardest to not cut anybody because we want as many girls in the sport as possible.”

Word of mouth about the league from classmates, along with the flexibility to play other sports during the season, has helped drive participation for existing teams. Irondale seniors Miranda Spiess, Anna Taylor, Belle O’Brien and Maya Killian all wanted to try something new this spring and decided to give flag football a chance.

“I joined because our coach kind of recruited us from basketball and he was just really fun during basketball, so I was excited to see what he was going to bring to flag football,” Spiess said. “And I played powder puffs, so that kind of started my interest. I’ve never played flag football or anything.”