Tom Brady and the Fanatics Flag Football Classic are moving closer to home for their inaugural event, switching from Saudi Arabia to Los Angeles.
The venue swap for the March 21 competition comes on the heels of the Iran war and amid travel advisories. It was slated to be held at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh.
Instead, the event featuring numerous NFL players and coaches relocates to BMO Stadium, which will be the home site when flag football makes its Olympic
debut at the 2028 LA Games.
The field will be full of familiar faces, too, including Brady as the seven-time Super Bowl-winning quarterback makes his first official return to the huddle since his retirement from the NFL in 2023. Brady and Jalen Hurts will serve as captains of the Founders FFC squad, which will be coached by Sean Payton. The other side, Wildcats FFC, is run by Jayden Daniels and Joe Burrow with Kyle Shanahan as their coach.
Leading into the event, the captains will draft a 12-player team from a list that includes Saquon Barkley, Myles Garrett, Odell Beckham Jr., Rob Gronkowski and YouTuber-turned-boxer Logan Paul. The commissioners of the event will be recent NFL Football Hall of Famers Drew Brees and Larry Fitzgerald.
A third team will be made up of USA Football players. It's a chance to see how a group of accomplished flag-football players stack up against their NFL counterparts. The USA squad will have Aamir Brown and Darrell “Housh” Doucette serve as captains and Jorge Cascudo as their coach.
The format will be played under modified Olympic flag-football rules and on a field measuring 50-by-25 yards. It will feature two 15-minute halves along with a running clock. All three teams square off in a round-robin tournament and the top two squads earn a spot in the championship game.
It will produced by Fanatics Studios and be broadcast on FOX Sports, FOX One and Tubi.
“This event features our world champion flag football athletes on the same field as some of the top current and former pro tackle stars, and I know our players are up for the challenge," Scott Hallenbeck, the USA Football CEO and executive director, said in a statement.
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