Flag Football Survey: Few Have Heard About New League

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Posted May 30, 2017

There’s a new sport in town -- or at least there will be in 2018. The American Flag Football League is slated to start games in the summer of next year. And there are some big names getting involved. Retired NFL players Michael Vick and Justin Forsett have committed to playing in the inaugural game. And the league is hopeful of getting even more former athletes involved as well, according to Bleacher Report. But what do potential viewers think of this new league? How many would be willing to give this sport a watch? And how might it compare to other sports? We asked 1,000 respondents about their viewing habits and their thoughts on the new flag football league.

flag football

Sports Viewers

In Ask Your Target Market’s latest online survey, 33% of respondents said they’ve watched sports on TV within the past day. 22% have watched sports in the past week. 10% have done so within the past month. 14% have watched sports at least within the past year. 3% said they last watched sports more than a year ago. And 19% don’t ever watch sports on TV. In addition, 10% of respondents said that they’ve gone to live sporting events within the past week. 11% have gone to sporting events in the past month. 10% have done so within the past three months. 16% have gone to live sporting events within the past year. 8% have within the past two years. 29% said that it’s been more than two years since they last attended any live sporting events. And 16% never have.

Football Fans

Of those who have watched sports on TV within the past year, 64% said that they watch football regularly, making it the most popular sport for TV viewers. But of those who have attended live sporting events, just 57% have attended football games. Baseball was slightly more popular, with 60% saying they’ve attended those games in the past. More specifically, 46% of respondents said that they consider themselves to be football fans. And 22% said they at least somewhat follow football. However, just 15% of respondents said that they’ve watched flag football games many times in the past. 29% have done so once or twice. And 56% said that they’ve never watched flag football before.

Flag Football

So far, just 29% of respondents said that they’ve heard about the new American Flag Football League set to start games in summer 2018. Additionally, 36% of respondents said they would be at least somewhat likely to watch some flag football games on TV. And 27% said they would be interested in attending flag football games in person. According to Personality Radar, many of those who are interested in watching flag football are consumers who are very concerned with convenience and value. They don’t tend to buy a lot of luxury products, but they are interested in things like smartphones and video games. Also, those who watch football regularly seem significantly more likely to be interested in watching flag football. 53% of those respondents said they would be likely to also watch flag football on TV. And of those who have attended live sporting events in the past year, regardless of which sports they’ve attended, 52% said they would be interested in watching flag football on TV. And 44% said they would be interested in attending live flag football games.

Key Takeaways

While flag football doesn’t seem poised to gain the same type of notoriety as other major sports right away, that shouldn’t be surprising to those putting the league together since it’s a brand new concept for a lot of people. Right now, the league’s main objective seems like it should be simply getting the word out more, since few have actually heard about it so far. Then, the job becomes getting the actual game in front of people who might be open to it, since less than half of people have actually watched flag football in the past. To do this, including some clips during NFL games or including ads on gaming websites or apps could be a good way to get that content in front of the most relevant people. It also might be a good strategy to offer some unique attractions at the actual games to encourage people who might not be the biggest sports fans, but who enjoy those types of outings, to attend and give flag football a try. You can view the complete survey results in the widget below and be sure to click “Open Full Report” to take advantage of all the chart and filter options. Photo Credit: Flag football champs crowned by USAG- Humphreys under CC BY 2.0 What do you want to know? If you need some consumer insights on a particular topic, let us know in the comments below and we’ll consider it for an upcoming survey post.

Results were collected on May 29 via AYTM’s online survey panel.