The Fanatics Flag Football Classic, announced by Tom Brady in September last year, was originally slated to take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, on March 21. However, due to the ongoing conflict in the Middle East, the event has now been moved to the United States. The venue change could push the date slightly.
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The flag football spectacle, which will now be held at BMO Stadium, home of MLS side the MLS side Los Angeles FC and the NWSL’s Angel City FC, is still expected to take place before the NFL Draft.
However, the big question remains: Who will be playing? Also, with the change of venue and date, are there any further changes that we should expect?
The event was originally planned as a three-team round-robin tournament. One squad will be quarterbacked by Brady himself, while another will be led by Washington Commanders QB Jayden Daniels. Several NFL stars are already expected to suit up, including Rob Gronkowski, Saquon Barkley, Christian McCaffrey, CeeDee Lamb, and Sauce Gardner.
More players could still join the lineup, so the final rosters are far from set. There is also a chance the tournament could grow beyond the original three teams.
The U.S. Men’s Flag National Team has thrown its name into the mix. After the event was moved to the United States, the official USA Football page issued an open challenge to Brady, posting on X that they “want in.”
@TomBrady if this is official, we want in! Team USA Football is ready, let’s see who really runs football.
— USA Football (@USAFootball) March 7, 2026
Brady promptly accepted the challenge. “I like the sound of that @usafootball – DM me, and we’ll get it set up. Just know there’s no turning back,” he tweeted. So the tournament should very likely feature a fourth team.
Tom Brady will very likely have a fourth team playing in the Fanatics Flag Football Classic pic.twitter.com/3JvPqI3EiG
— ParziTalksNFL (@nfl_parzi) March 8, 2026
If the national team does end up joining the event, it will bring some dominant competition. They have won five consecutive IFAF Flag Football World Championships and six gold medals overall. The retired Brady and his teammates will not have it easy while taking on this team.
Star QB Darrell “Housh” Doucette III will be looking for revenge as well. He had gotten into quite a beef with the NFL world in 2024 when he claimed that he might even be better than Patrick Mahomes if the Chiefs QB tried playing flag football. It led to Mahomes chiming in with a funny GIF of 50 Cent.
https://t.co/yY7fYXCfF3 pic.twitter.com/LONXJPkPYK
— Patrick Mahomes II (@PatrickMahomes) August 21, 2024
While the national team’s possible addition offers excitement, the actual goal of the NFL, while trying to push with the Fanatics Flag Football Classic, which was part of its broader effort to export American football’s tackle-free variation overseas, ended up falling short.
Since Brady said, “It’s a multi-year commitment,” perhaps next year will be different. Notably, flag football is set to make its Olympic debut at the Los Angeles 2028 Games.
