Few people love football more than Pat McAfee.
So it was natural that the ESPN and WWE star’s first Super Bowl commercial would come as part of an initiative by the NFL to grow girls’ flag football around the country.
McAfee plays a school principal trying to keep the peace as the football team pranks him.
One of the jocks on the team then calls out a girl in the hallway for wearing a football jersey, telling her girls don’t play the sport. Marshawn Lynch also stars in the ad, which goes on to show the girls’ flag football team taking on the boys’ varsity team and winning.
The spot is part of the league’s NFL Flag 50 initiative, which is aiming to get flag football added as a varsity sport in all 50 states. In an effort to grow the game for women, the NFL has pushed flag football both in the U.S. and internationally for several years.
Beyond that, boys’ flag football will serve as a development pipeline for the men’s Olympic team starting at the 2028 Los Angeles Games.
“Making girls flag football a varsity sport in all 50 states would be fantastic for my daughter and all of the athletic girls in our wonderful country,” McAfee wrote on X. “The girls play good football.. and it’s gonna be an Olympic sport… we need to DOMINATE.”
Heading toward a role in a film from director Peter Berg, maybe acting is the next frontier for McAfee.
About Brendon Kleen
Brendon is a Media Commentary staff writer at Awful Announcing. He has also covered basketball and sports business at Front Office Sports, SB Nation, Uproxx and more.