The Arizona Cardinals Football Club, State Farm and Arizona's Family today announced a partnership to broadcast the "Cardinals High School Girls Flag Football Game of the Week presented by State Farm ®." It will mark the first time an NFL team has produced and aired a high school girls flag football game of the week.
Arizona's Family Sports will air eight games during the season starting on Tuesday, September 17 when Hamilton (Chandler) High School visits Xavier (Phoenix) High School at 7:00 PM. The remaining slate of games will take place on Tuesday or Thursday nights through November 7.
Each match-up will be a fully-produced, 90-minute game broadcast, complete with play-by-play, analysis and sideline reporting and will air live on Arizona's Family Sports (AZFS). Games will also re-air on Arizona's Family Sports on Saturdays throughout the season. Launched in March of 2023, AZFS is a statewide broadcast sports network in Arizona. Home to the Arizona Cardinals and the Arizona Interscholastic Association's High School Championships, AZFS can be seen over-the-air, as well as on cable, satellite and streaming services across Arizona.
"We are thrilled to partner with State Farm and Arizona's Family to provide this unprecedented platform to showcase the amazing young women competing in high school flag football in Arizona," said Cardinals owner Michael Bidwill. "The growth of flag football has been explosive not only in our state and our country but worldwide. As an organization we are proud to help grow the interest even more and shine a spotlight on those competing at such a high level in our own community."
"We firmly believe that local sports act as the connective tissue of a community," said Debbie Bush, Vice President and General Manager of Arizona's Family. "This opportunity allows us to shine a light on young women across Arizona who are truly trailblazers in the sport of flag football while inspiring a new generation of young girls to believe that they can play too. We are grateful to the Arizona Cardinals and State Farm for providing equitable opportunities for these girls to showcase their talents on the field."
"Being a part of the Cardinals girls flag football game of the week means the world to me," said Samaya Taylor-Jenkins of Hamilton H.S., the 2023 Arizona Cardinals Girls Flag Football Offensive Player of the Year. "I think all the girls deserve this type of recognition and with our sport growing so quickly, we appreciate all the attention and publicity we can get. The Cardinals have helped more than they know in making flag football become the sport it is today by putting on events and making it feel so special. Receiving the first-ever OPOY award was such an honor and now to have our games on live TV is going to be such a special memory for all of us."
"The AIA is honored to collaborate with the Arizona Cardinals as well as Arizona's Family and State Farm to recognize and promote girls flag football here in Arizona," said David Hines, Director of the Arizona Interscholastic Association (AIA). "To have select games of the week broadcast across the state provides a great opportunity to highlight these tremendous female athletes. We can't thank the Cardinals enough for their support. They have been instrumental in the exponential growth of girls flag football in the state of Arizona."
