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The NFL teamed up with LGBTQ+ youth to create this one-of-a-kind Super Bowl Experience

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A large crowd poses for a picture behind the NFL logo painted on a football field.
Photo via @azniceguy851 on Instagram

Super Bowl Sunday has snuck up on us yet again! While this weekend is normally just a chance for some of us to have a quiet night out (all the straights are occupied for once), it’s been a Hall of Fame moment for a local group of LGBTQ+ youth.

The NFL teamed up with the National and Phoenix Gay Flag Football Leagues and Arizona LGBTQ+ youth organization one•n•ten to host a one-of-a-kind clinic at the Super Bowl Experience.

Just before the kids took to the field for an unforgettable flag football match, the NFL announced the game’s coaches: a trio of former Arizona Cardinals players. With combined decades of experience behind them, Michael Bankston, Marcel Shipp, and Rick Cunningham stepped up to lead the day’s participants to victory.

It looks like all involved had a blast:

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“Having the NFL stand with the LGBTQ youth, and also the Phoenix and National Gay Flag Football League, just affirms that football is for everybody and they recognize that a lot their fanbase is part of our community, and inspiring these kids and letting them know that football is for them,” NGFFL Commissioner Joel Horton tells ABC 15.

“It’s something that’s so powerful and transformative,” he continues. “They’re out here changing lives today.”

The NFL has worked more closely with the NGFFL in recent years, especially in Arizona; the Cardinals sponsored the 2021 Gay Bowl in Tempe, which ended up being optioned for a reality miniseries. This October, the Seattle Seahawks are sponsored the Gay Bowl in their home city.

PGFFL Commissioner Guillermo “Memo” Moreno emphasizes the work that all sides put into making this moment happen and how much it’s all paid off.

“This is really a huge stride for us,” he says. “Coming from the gay community and seeing the growth that we’ve experienced, both on a national level and personal level… to be able to be a part of something so much bigger than us, such as the NFL Experience, it’s everything.”

He said the moment was hugely important for the gay flag football leagues themselves, as “it validates who we are as players, as athletes, and as gay members of the community.”

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In a political moment where both LGBTQ+ youth and LGBTQ+ people in athletics are being challenged at every turn, the nation’s biggest sporting body working with local queer organizations around something as huge as the Super Bowl is cause for celebration.

Good luck to the Super Bowl in being even half as fun as these kids’ Super Bowl Experience!

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