Women's National Football Conference

Women's National Football Conference
Sport	Women's American Football
Founded	2018; 6 years ago
Founder	Odessa Jenkins
First season	2019
President	Elizabeth Jenkins
Commissioner	Janice Masters
No. of teams	16
Country	United States;
Most recent; champion(s)	The Mississippi Lady Panthers ; (2024)
Sponsor(s)	Adidas; Riddell; Dick's Sporting Goods; United Sports Brands;
Official website	[1]

The Women's National Football Conference (WNFC) is a semi-pro full-contact Women's American football league in the United States. With teams across the United States, the WNFC had its first game in 2019 with fourteen regular teams and one exhibition team.

League history

The Women's National Football Conference was founded in 2018, with their inaugural season in 2019. On their website, the WNFC is described as looking to create a standard of excellence and opportunities. The WNFC does not charge teams of players a fee for entry into the league; rather, teams are invited into the league based on quality of market, team, players and ownership.^[1]

On December 10, 2018, the WNFC announced a partnership with Adidas, as part of the latter's "She Breaks Barriers" initiative.^[2] As part of that partnership, Adidas serves as the WNFC's presenting sponsor, with all WNFC teams wearing custom-made Adidas uniforms.

2019

The WNFC played their inaugural season in 2019 with fourteen regular teams and one exhibition team. Five teams came to the WNFC from the Independent Women's Football League (which folded after the 2018 season), three from the WFA, two from the USWFL, and five were teams playing their inaugural season in the WNFC.

The season began on April 6 and ended with the inaugural IX Cup (named in honor of Title IX) on June 29, which saw the Texas Elite Spartans defeat the Utah Falconz 19–14.^[3]

In October 2019, The Women's National Football Conference launched the anti-bullying, girls empowerment program, Got Her Back.^[4]

2020

The WNFC added seven teams for the 2020 season: three from the WFA, two from the USWFL and three expansion teams. No games were played due to COVID-19.

2021

The WNFC returned to play on May 1, 2021. The league provided weekly COVID-19 testing for all its 20 teams. All games were streamed on the Vyre Network. The season ended with Texas Elite Spartans defeating the San Diego Rebellion 27–6.

2022

The WNFC played Week 1 of its 2022 season on April 2. All games were streamed on the Vyre Network. The season ended with the Texas Elite Spartans defeating the Utah Falconz 48–12. The WNFC website reported that their broadcast viewership across all Vyre Network platforms had incewased by 475% from 2021, throughout the course of the 2022 season.

2023

The WNFC played Week 1 of its 2023 season on April 1. All games were streamed on the Vyre Network. The season ended with the Texas Elite Spartans defeating the Mississippi Lady Panthers 49–7.

2024

The WNFC played Week 1 of its 2024 season on April 6. All games were streamed on Caffeine TV and DAZN. The season ended with the Mississippi Lady Panthers defeating the Texas Elite Spartans 13–6. The WNFC has reported that there were 10 million streams on Caffeine TV and 15 million paid subscriptions on DAZN.

The WNFC has announced that starting in the 2025 season, each tackle team will also be fielding a flag football team for women ages 18+.

On May 9, 2024, the WNFC announced a partnership with Gridiron Football.^[5]

Teams

Team	Location	Venue	Head coach	Founded	Joined
Atlanta Truth	TBD	TBD	Kameron Marks	2024	2024
Chicago Winds	TBD	TBD	TBD	2024	2024
Denver Bandits	Aurora, Colorado	North Stadium	Sam Turner	2018	2019
Florida Avengers	Jacksonville, Florida	Ed Waters University	Damien Grimes	2019	2020
Houston Mambas	Missouri City, Texas	Edward Mercer Stadium	Chenille Tillman-Brooks	2022	2022
Kansas City Glory	Kansas City, Missouri	Shawnee Mission North High School	KeKe Blackmon	2019	2019
Las Vegas Silver Stars	Las Vegas, Nevada	Faith Lutheran Middle School and High School	Carrie Walters	2017	2019
Los Angeles Legends	Los Angeles, CA	Junipero Serra High School	Monique Moe Adams and Tim Holmes	2021	2022
Mississippi Panthers^[6]	Jackson, Mississippi	Madison Ridgeland Academy	LeSteven Jackson	2018	2020
Oregon Ravens	Portland, Oregon	Milwaukie High School	Tim Price	2019	2019
San Diego Rebellion	San Diego, California	Escondido High School	Knengi Martin	2017	2019
Seattle Majestics	Kent, Washington	French Field	Rodney McCurry	2002	2019
Tennessee Trojans	Nashville, Tennessee	Lipscomb Athletic Complex	Kim Corbett	2022	2023
Texas Elite Spartans	Addison, Texas	Lewisville High School	Odessa Jenkins	2017	2019
Utah Falconz	Murray, Utah	Cottonwood High School	Keith Barnes	2014	2019
Washington Prodigy	Washington, D.C.	Theodore Roosevelt Senior High School	LaMont Jordan	2012	2020

Map of teams

Current WNFC team locations (Pacific Division teams in blue; Atlantic Division teams in red, Central Division teams in green)

Former teams

New Orleans Hippies — Played in the WNFC in 2019
North Florida Pumas — Played in the WNFC in 2019, now a member of the Women's Tackle Football League.
San Diego Surge — Played in the WNFC in 2019
Nebraska Nite Hawks — Played in the WNFC from 2019–2021
Carolina Queens — Played in the WNFC in 2021
Los Angeles Bobcats — Played in the WNFC from 2019–2021
Alabama Fire – Played in the WNFC from 2019–2022, now a member of the WFA
Phoenix Prowlers – Played in the WNFC from 2019–2022
La Muerte De Las Cruces – Played in the WNFC from 2021–2022
Atlanta Phoenix – Played in the WNFC from 2019–2024
Philly Phantomz – Played in the WNFC from 2021–2024

Timeline

IX Cup

Year	Title	Home team	Away team	Score
2019	2019 IX Cup	Texas Elite Spartans	Utah Falconz	19–14
2021	2021 IX Cup	Texas Elite Spartans	San Diego Rebellion	27–6
2022	2022 IX Cup	Texas Elite Spartans	Utah Falconz	48–14
2023	2023 IX Cup	Texas Elite Spartans	Mississippi Panthers	49–7
2024	2024 IX Cup	Texas Elite Spartans	Mississippi Panthers	6–13

References

^ About Us – WNFCFootball.com
^ "ADIDAS KICKS OFF INITIATIVE TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS FACED BY WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORT". Adidas.com. December 10, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ "WNFC'S IX CUP CHAMPIONSHIP LIVES UP TO THE HYPE!". July 9, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.
^ "Women's National Football Conference (WNFC) Launches Anti Bullying, Girls Empowerment Program". October 2, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
^ "WNFC and Gridiron Football Unite Forces in Historic Partnership". WNFC. May 9, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.
^ https://www.mpbonline.org/television/mississippi-roads/ Mississippi Roads episode Wise, Wilfull, Women February 13, 2022

External links

Official website

[1] About Us – WNFCFootball.com

[adidaswnfc-2] "ADIDAS KICKS OFF INITIATIVE TO BREAK DOWN BARRIERS FACED BY WOMEN AND GIRLS IN SPORT". Adidas.com. December 10, 2018. Retrieved August 13, 2019.

[wnfcixcup-3] "WNFC'S IX CUP CHAMPIONSHIP LIVES UP TO THE HYPE!". July 9, 2019. Retrieved August 13, 2019.

[4] "Women's National Football Conference (WNFC) Launches Anti Bullying, Girls Empowerment Program". October 2, 2019. Retrieved August 22, 2024.

[5] "WNFC and Gridiron Football Unite Forces in Historic Partnership". WNFC. May 9, 2024. Retrieved August 22, 2024.

[6] ttps://www.mpbonline.org/television/mississippi-roads/ Mississippi Roads episode Wise, Wilfull, Women February 13, 2022

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