The News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) reports that the Showtime League established on July 7, 2023, is the largest co-ed semi-professional flag football league in Nigeria.
NAN reports that the league founded by Azeezah Amida, 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 said the winner of the Bowl would be awarded with a cash prize, trophy and player rings.
The sport provides a platform where men and women compete, connect and showcase their skills, while building a strong, passionate community, more than just a ruby league.
On the expectations of the game, Nassar said the season two edition, which would begin on Sept. 6 till Dec. 15 would run for 16 weeks.
She said the competition was the pro league game with 12 teams competing for the grand prize of N20 million.
“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, the third and the fourth will get N2.5 million each.
According to her, other positions will also be rewarded with 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.
She said 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.
Nasser said the league also had the Showtime Streets, where players were discovered from the street, developed and adopted into the Pro League game.
The CEO said having male and female players offers a huge opportunity for wider reach in Nigeria, Africa and the world.
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 into 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 has gone into more younger players,” he said.
Adejumo said this was done to give the league and sport a futuristic view. (NAN
