Flag football could be coming to the Olympics as soon as 2028.

The International Olympic Committee will begin voting later this week on which of five proposed new sports will be allowed into the 2028 Olympic Games in Los Angeles. One of those proposals is to add flag football to the slate of competitions, according to the Associated Press.

Backing flag football's bid to join the Olympics is the NFL, which has been trying to spread the game of American football abroad for the better part of the last two decades.

Since 2007, the NFL has scheduled between one and four regular season games in England each year (besides 2020). From 2007 through 2015, all of the NFL's international games took place at Wembley Stadium in London, drawing crowds of more than 75,000 people each year. Since then, the NFL has expanded its International Series to include regular season games in Mexico and Germany.

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The proposal to add flag football to the Olympics is a convenient push for the NFL to make as the Summer Games return to the United States for the first time since 1996.

Other sports included on the proposal for the 2028 Olympics are baseball/softball, lacrosse, squash and cricket.

International flag football rules

According to the International Federation of American Football, the "Standard Style" of flag football is five-on-five, which is the format the IOC is considering. Rather than tackling offensive players to complete a play, defenders pull a standardized flag — roughly 15 inches long by two inches wide — off of a belt worn by each player.

In this style of football, there are no offensive or defensive linemen on either team, and games take place on a field that is 50 yards long and 25 yards wide. Rosters have a 15-player maximum and all teams only have players of the same gender.

Each team gets four downs to attempt to cross midfield for a new set of downs. An unsuccessful set of downs gives the ball back to the defense on its own 5-yard line. An interception gives the defense the ball at the spot the play ends following the interception.

Teams are allowed to run the ball anywhere on the field besides the five-yard areas directly bordering the end zone. Jumping and diving as the ball-carrier in any context is illegal.

Each team's defense can have a maximum of two blitzers that may rush the quarterback directly so long as all parts of their bodies are more than seven yards from the line of scrimmage.

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Scoring is much the same as it is in standard American football, though no kicks in any context are allowed. A touchdown is six points, then the offense can elect for a one-point try from the 5-yard line or a two-point try from the 10-yard line. A safety is two points and a defensive touchdown on a point-after try is also two points.

Flag football games are 40 minutes long, split into two, 20-minute halves with a two-minute halftime break. The clock is constantly running until the final two minutes of each half. During that period, college football rules for clock stoppage apply in that the clock stops after a first down, penalty, incomplete pass, runner goes out of bounds, a score or a charged timeout.

If the score is tied after regulation, a modified version of college football overtime rules apply. Each team gets a series of downs to try to score starting at midfield. If the defense scores during the first series, the game is over. If neither team scores or the game is still tied after each team's first series of downs, each team gets one play for a one-point try from the 5-yard line. This continues until one team leads after both teams have their attempt.

Where to watch flag football at the Olympics

Should flag football be approved as a new sport in the Olympics, it would make its debut at the 2028 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.

NBCUniversal will still hold the broadcasting rights to the Olympic Games as part of their contract with the IOC that runs through 2032. As a result, fans can expect to watch the 2028 Games across NBCUniversal's properties: NBC on cable television, Peacock on streaming and likely some extra availability to watch on NBC's Olympics website.

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This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Flag football in the Olympics: rules, proposal and where to watch