A former promoter for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings is betting that female flag football could become a rage.
Roy Englebrecht, who founded Orange County’s weekly, sold-out fight club and the first promoter to integrate mixed martial arts into boxing events, is launching the first professional league for women’s flag football in Southern California.
“This is the Premier Pro League for all those women who love this sport and want to continue to play after they finish high school or college,” Englebrecht, chief executive of SOCA Fights, told the Business Journal.
It’s more than a passing fancy. The National Football League recently announced an investment up to $32 million to develop flag football in the U.S. Plus, flag football will make its Olympic debut in the 2028 games in Los Angeles.
The Newport Beach-based promoter is proposing eight county teams—from San Diego up to Santa Barbara—to play in the SoCal Women’s Pro Flag Football League (SCWPFFL). Each team would consist of nine players coached by a high school flag football coach from the respective region and led by a general manager.
Investors would contribute $1.2 million to launch the league, making up 48% of ownership with Englebrecht retaining the 52% majority in case he wants to raise more funds in the future, he said. He’s looking for eight investments in the league worth $150,000 each, or a 6% stake per team.
If investors want to own one of the eight teams, it will be an additional $100,000.
Englebrecht said he is still in talks with potential investors, with a few based in Orange County.
Applications for players and coaches opened in January with tryouts scheduled for April, and Englebrecht said he is close to finding a commissioner to run the league. He’s in contact with 650 coaches in the U.S. to find players and has received submissions from 80 athletes so far.
While the inaugural season was originally scheduled to launch in 2026, it’s been pushed back to 2027 with a budget of $1 million. In its place this summer, the league will instead host an eight-game all-star tournament with a major sponsor that will be announced soon, Englebrecht said.
One player the league has been talking with is Alexa Rokos, who was a CIF quarterback at Corona Del Mar High School in 2025 and is now playing at Santa Barbara City College.
“She most likely will be the starting quarterback on the All-Star Team that will play the eight county teams in July,” Englebrecht said.
During the regular season, players will be paid $200 each per game and the winning team would divide an extra $1,200 bonus, according to the website. Playoff bonuses include $500 each for making it to the quarterfinals, $750 for semifinals and a $1,000-plus ring for the championship.
Englebrecht added that the Southern California launch will be the template for a national women’s league in the future.
“You want to get in a business that’s ready to explode,” Englebrecht said.
Off the Charts Growth
Flag football is currently considered one of the fastest-growing sports in the U.S. There are 2.4 million kids under 17 playing organized flag football in the states, according to the International Federation of American Football (IFAF).
Englebrecht noted that three to four years ago, flag football was relegated to a club sport. The sport is now offered at a high school level in 38 states, according to NFL Football Operations.
“It’s a relatively new sport that’s been approved, and there are still some high schools in Southern California that don’t play it yet,” he said.
The sports executive spent seven years as director of promotions for the Los Angeles Lakers and the Los Angeles Kings at The Forum. In 1985, Englebrecht launched Battle in the Ballroom at the Irvine Marriott, and the fight show remained at the hotel for 25 years before relocating to The Hanger at the OC Fair & Event Center in 2011 and was renamed Fight Club OC.
The industry veteran added that “the growth of women’s sports has been off the charts in the last 10 years.” Organizations such as FIFA and the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) have reported major increases in viewership; Forbes reported last year that the WNBA in 2024 saw over 54 million unique viewers during its regular season, a 170% increase from the previous year.
Englebrecht said he was also inspired by his own daughter, Allison West, who started as a middle blocker on the 1992 Corona Del Mar National Championship Girls Volleyball team and was later recruited to play professional volleyball in Switzerland.
He pointed out that NFL owners are willing to invest $1 million per team in the new professional flag football league.
“That’s going to make more girls want to play out for our league, because we can be the developmental league, if you will,” he said.
Prepping for Kick Off
Establishing a fan base is one of the many tasks involved in setting up a professional league from scratch, which is why Englebrecht assigned the teams by county.
“Let’s just do county teams, because emotions play a big part in sports,” he said. “We wanted to have an emotional attachment to each of these teams.”
Englebrecht pointed out that there’s already buzz in places like Orange County at schools such as Corona del Mar High, which had 800 people in the stands during last year’s CIF playoffs game for girls’ flag football. CdM’s Sea Kings team became the 2025 CIF Division 2 champions.
For the upcoming summer tournament, the league will assemble one all-star team of 10 players to compete against each of the eight county teams, starting in July. The regular season, starting next year, will run for 14 games over three months.
“This 2026 All-Star Tournament will also ‘test market’ the sport for players, coaches, fans, sponsors and media to refine the 2027 full league launch,” Englebrecht said in a statement.
“We want to be as professional as possible,” he added.
The games will be held at high school or junior college stadiums in each county—like Irvine’s University High School or the Frank Kelly Athletic Stadium in Orange, which keeps ticket prices affordable.
Englebrecht noted that to keep Orange County involved in the overall launch, he has commissioned Reid Petersen’s design classes at the Samueli Academy in Santa Ana to design options for team uniforms.
Banking on the success of the SoCal league, Englebrecht plans to eventually launch a North American league. He said it will most likely start with a Northern California league, to take advantage of a natural rivalry, and could see it expanding to other states such as Texas and Florida next.
He added that if things go according to plan, the league should be acquired. If there is an endgame, a future national league could be bought by the NFL in the future, according to Englebrecht.
“I’m a firm believer that if you’re the first, and you do it right, you’ll always be first,” Englebrecht said. “I looked around and said, ‘Why not us? I mean, this is what we did with Battle in the Ballroom and Fight Club OC years and years ago.”
“As I do in any business, I’ve tried to shoot holes in this,” he added. “And I just can’t. It makes sense.”
Aaron Rodgers’ Victory a Good Omen?
Aaron Rodgers won his first-ever RX3 Growth Partners flag football tournament by throwing a touchdown pass with five seconds left in overtime.
It could be good sign since last year’s winner of the fundraiser, Sam Darnold, went on to lead the Seattle Seahawks to a Super Bowl victory.
“If Aaron does come back to play, winning this tournament is a good omen,” RX3 Managing Partner Nate Raabe said about the famous quarterback who is pondering retirement.
“If that’s the case, it must mean he’s coming back, and he’ll win the Super Bowl.”
Rodgers is one of the founders of RX3, along with Raabe and Byron Roth, the executive chairman of Roth MKM, the largest investment bank based in Orange County.
Several of the companies where RX3 has invested promoted their wares at the event, including Therabody, which makes massage products, Super Coffee, which provides energy without sugar, and Hydro, which makes rowing machines.
About 3,000 fans attended the March 21 event that featured about 120 players and coaches participating in a round robin at Saddleback College’s stadium.
The fifth annual tournament raised $4.2 million, which is spread among the 30 charities promoted by the players. In its five years, the tournament has raised about $13 million.
It took place on the same day as a flag-football tournament hosted by Tom Brady. That event was originally scheduled to take place at Kingdom Arena in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia but was relocated to BMO Stadium in Los Angeles because of the war in Iran.
“Their event is a big for-profit production where they have a TV deal and pay the players,” Raabe said. “Our event is a more community-focused charity event. We don’t pay anybody. The players who are here are there supporting causes that they care about.”
The tournament continued to attract famous NFL players like Bryce Young, Amon-Ra St. Brown, Keenan Allen and Brandin Cooks.
Among the 10 teams participating was a team that included several players from the USA Women’s Flag Football Team.
“They really held their own,” Raabe said. “Several players were impressed with their play.”
—Peter J. Brennan
