The Regional Flag Football Series was introduced during the 2025-26 season via option 4 of the Making Changes to BUCS Competitions Framework. This saw flag football added as a new discipline of American Football for a probationary period, with no BUCS points attributed, and a comprehensive Year One Review post series. The Year One Review process forms a key part of BUCS’ commitment to evidence-based decision-making, and the continuous improvement of our sport programme, ensuring that all changes to competition structures, whether new sports, disciplines, or formats, are assessed fairly, transparently, and in line with BUCS’ strategic objectives.
There are three core areas that are assessed within the Year One Review:
- Event Matrix Review: an internal BUCS review assessing format, delivery and competition standards.
- Participant Feedback: measures student satisfaction and overall impact
- Institution Feedback: measures support from Institution Administrators
The new sport or discipline receives a grade (A-C) in each of these core areas, and based on the combination of grades, will either be fully adopted, retained on probation, or removed from the programme. The threshold to receive a grade A in each of these areas is listed below:
- Event Matrix Review: ≥75%
- Participant Feedback: ≥ 0 NPS Score + ≥3.5 Likert Score
- Institution Feedback: 80% Response Rate + ≥ 80% Support
As a result of detailed planning and close collaboration between the British American Football Association (BAFA), BUCS and NFL UK, we were able to see the successful delivery of the Regional Flag Football Series by OBE, an NFL approved 3rd party delivery agency. The series has gone through a detailed review, and we can announce that it scored the following:
- Event Matrix Review: 79%
- Participant Feedback: +30 NPS, 4.27 Likert Score
- Institution Feedback: 81% Response Rate, 100% Support
The scores above all fall within the threshold of receiving a grade A. With this, we are pleased to confirm that the Regional Flag Football Series has been automatically adopted into the full BUCS Programme from the 2026-27 season. The Series will continue as 3rd party delivered regional events in Term 3. However, from the 2026-27 season, these regional events will act as qualifiers, leading to a National Finals event. There will also be BUCS Points awarded at the conclusion of the National Finals. The BUCS Points will follow the Team Championship (Events) model.
The full Year One Review document for the Regional Flag Football Series can be found here.
Tonye Dokubo, American Football Programme Manager, BUCS, said: "Seeing the Regional Flag Football Series achieve full adoption is a significant milestone for the sport and for higher education competition. The success of the probation year is a testament to the commitment of our members, participants and partners, and the review results provide clear evidence of the positive impact the series has already had. We look forward to building on this momentum as flag football enters the BUCS programme in 2026-27."
Dr Chris Long, Head of Youth Football and Grassroots Development at NFL UK, commented: "Flag football earning full adoption into the BUCS programme is a real milestone, with it being the first time the sport has been officially embedded into a national university programme in the UK, It's testament to the work of BUCS, BAFA and NFL UK, and with LA28 on the horizon a university pathway is exactly what we need to keep building."
Chad Ehlertsen, CEO at British American Football Association, added: "Introducing flag football to the BUCS programme and now seeing it reach full adoption is an incredibly exciting achievement for the entire British American Football community. Developing the sport’s participation pyramid in the UK is central to our wider strategy, and we can’t wait to see how BUCS flag football will unlock even more accessibility, growth and opportunity."
