The National Association of Intercollegiate Athletics (NAIA)'s prime season of women's flag football ended at Mercedes-Benz Stadium in early May. The NAIA, NFL FLAG, Reigning Champs Experiences, and Atlanta Falcons hosted the first-ever NAIA Women's Flag Football Finals in Atlanta on May 5-8.
Ten teams had come to Atlanta to compete in the inaugural tournament. Those are Cottey College (Missouri), Kansas Wesleyan University (Kansas), Keiser University (Florida), Midland University (Nebraska), Milligan University (Tennessee), Ottawa University (Kansas), St. Thomas University (Florida), University of Saint Mary (Kansas), Webber International University (Florida) and Xavier University of Louisiana (Louisiana).
All ten teams arrived at Mercedes-Benz Stadium to begin bracket play on Thursday, May 6, 2021. Then five teams remained for the final of the 2012 NAIA Women's Flag on Saturday, May 8.
President & CEO of Atlanta Falcons, Rich McKay and Motivational Speaker and Founder of I'm Changing the Narrative, Rachel Baribeau, started the tournament by speaking to all ten teams at the opening ceremony at Silverbacks Park.
"We are thrilled to host the inaugural NAIA's Women's Flag Football Finals and NAIA Flag Showcase at Mercedes-Benz Stadium. Our organization has seen the appetite and enthusiasm for women's flag football first-hand at the high school level in both Georgia and Alabama, and we are excited to see it grow on the collegiate level as well," said Rich McKay.
The tournament started off with five-seeded St. Thomas University's victory over four-seeded Midland University, advancing to the semi-finals. Although later on, the top-seeded Keiser University from Florida took down St. Thomas 32-0. In the semi-finals, two-seeded Ottawa University from Kansas beaten three-seeded Webber International University with a 27-12 win.
The Ottawa University Braves prevailed on a one-point victory to become the first-ever NAIA Women's Flag Championship champion.