Showtime Flag offers N20m for Bowl Series S2

Leading co-ed flag football league in the world, Showtime Flag, has earmarked N20m for the Bowl Series season two competition in Nigeria.

The Chief Executive Officer of the league, Manal Nassar, recently confirmed the development in a news conference in Lagos.

Established on July 7, 2023, Showtime League is the largest co-ed semi-professional flag football league in Nigeria, founded by Azeez Amida. It will be played in a 7-on-7 coed format.

Nassar said the top six teams in the tournament would advance to the playoffs to compete for a place in the championship game called ‘The Showtime Bowl’. She added that the winner of the Bowl will receive a cash prize, trophy, and player rings.

The sport provides a platform for men and women to compete, connect, and showcase their skills while building a strong, passionate community—more than just a rugby league.

On the expectations of the game, Nassar said Season Two, which begins on September 6 and runs through December 15, was the pro league game with 12 teams competing for the grand prize of N20 m.

“The participating teams are the Warriors Flag Football, Outlaws Athletics, Spartans FC, Panthers Sport, Lagos Raptors, Off-Szn Athletics, Lagos Rebels, LA Knights, Titans Athletics, Lagos Mavericks, Wolverines, and Lagos Hawks.

“The winner will go home with six million naira, the second runner-up will go home with four million naira, and the third and the fourth will get N2.5 million each,” she said.

According to her, other positions would also get cash prizes.

Nassar said the teams had seen the impact of Season One, which was held in 2023 in Lagos, and how participation had promoted the game, adding that Season Two would be bigger and better, noting that it would promote, develop, and improve the followership of the game while educating the public on flag football.

Flag football is set to be part of the Olympic Games to be hosted by Los Angeles in the United States of America in 2028, and the growing interest in the sport in Nigeria puts the country at the forefront of a historic berth on the global stage.

Nasser said the league also had the Showtime Streets, where players were discovered from the street, developed, and adopted into the Pro League game.

Also speaking, Adebare Adejumo, Showtime Flag Commissioner, said the second edition would discover world-class athletes, which was the mission of Showtime Pro and the Showtime Streets.

He said the league had a taste of that in the Community Cup, noting that going into the Showtime Bowl Series XI was going to be spectacular.

“That is why we are doing programmes like Showtime Street because we are going into the streets to pick these younger players. So right now, the league has gone from an age bracket of 15 years old to about 25 as opposed to having older players.“I mean, we still have older players, but right now, the demographics of the league have gone into more younger players,” he said.