HBCU football will be returning to Maryland Eastern Shore in the form of women’s flag football.
UMES announced that it is adding women’s flag football one day after the MEAC announced it would be adding the sport. The program will begin competition during the 2026–27 athletic year.
The move gives UMES another women’s sport and brings football back into the school’s athletic conversation. That word still carries weight in Princess Anne.
UMES once fielded a traditional football program. It shut the program down after the 1979 season as costs climbed and financial pressures mounted. Nearly five decades later, the school is not restoring tackle football. It is entering one of the fastest-growing sports in the country.
“We continue to be trailblazers in many ways at UMES,” President Anderson said. “We are excited to create a new opportunity for student-athletes through the addition of women’s flag football to our robust athletics program. I look forward to supporting our newest sport and believe our campus and surrounding community will fully embrace UMES women’s flag football.”
The addition will increase UMES’ NCAA Division I sponsorship to 16 sports. It also aligns with the Mid-Eastern Athletic Conference, which recently announced women’s flag football as a championship sport.
UMES joins MEAC flag football movement
The MEAC will begin sponsoring women’s flag football and women’s golf during the 2026–27 academic year. Conference championship events will follow the regular season in both sports.
That gives Maryland Eastern Shore a direct path into league competition from the start. It also places the Hawks in the middle of a growing HBCU sports movement.
“In alignment with the mission of UMES, we remain strategic in our efforts to expand programming and provide meaningful opportunities for student-athletes,” Vice President of Athletics Tara A. Owens said. “It is especially exciting to compete in the MEAC while helping to promote the growth of women’s flag football as an HBCU institution. We also look forward to contributing to the sport’s development at the collegiate level and welcome members of our community to support this initiative.”
The sport has picked up major momentum nationally. More than 300 teams are expected to compete across the country during the 2026–27 academic year.
Women’s flag football is also set to debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics. That Olympic push has helped bring more attention to the sport at the high school and college levels.
The NCAA also voted earlier this year to add women’s flag football to its Emerging Sports for Women program. That move does not make it a full NCAA championship sport yet. But it moves the sport closer to that possibility.
Football returns in a new form
The announcement lands with extra meaning at Maryland Eastern Shore.
UMES football was once part of the school’s identity. The program produced professional talent and helped connect the university to a broader HBCU football tradition. But by the end of the 1979 season, the financial burden became too much.
Now, football is returning in a different form.
Women’s flag football does not carry the same roster size, equipment costs or facility demands as tackle football. It does, however, give UMES a chance to compete in a sport with national momentum and growing championship possibilities.
It also gives the school a fresh way to build excitement.
Coaching staff, recruiting and scheduling details will be announced later. But the broader message is already clear.
Maryland Eastern Shore football is not coming back the way older alumni remember it.
It is coming back through women’s flag football, and UMES is stepping into the future with the MEAC.