The IFAF launched a new streaming platform during the Americas Flag Football Championships, where the US claimed both the men's and women's titles ©Wes Lorenz

The International Federation of American Football (IFAF) has successfully launched a new streaming platform, a move which is set to boost its campaign for inclusion into the Los Angeles 2028 Olympics.

The streaming platform IFAF.TV received 147,000 viewers during the three days of the IFAF Americas Flag Football Championships, which were held from July 5 to 7 in North Carolina in the United States.

Coverage was available worldwide through IFAF.TV, except in the US, where HomeTeamLive had exclusive rights to broadcast the tournament.

Viewers were also able to watch the tournament live and on-demand around the world through The Olympic Channel, and see the US win both the men’s and women’s tournaments.

The Americas Flag Football Championships was the first of a series of continental qualifiers for next year’s World Flag Football Championships in Lahti, Finland.

A similar streaming service is set to be available for the next continental qualifier, the European Flag Football Championships, due to be held in Limerick, Ireland, from August 18 to 20.

The platform is also due to broadcast men’s, women’s and under-19 tournaments across Europe and domestic tournaments hosted by member federations.

Speaking about the platform IFAF President Pierre Trochet said: "The results of this soft launch, with minimal promotion, are extremely encouraging and speak to the growing global appetite for IFAF competitions, particularly in flag football.

"We are very excited to empower our federations, who will now have the IFAF.TV streaming platform at their disposal for all games and competitions.

"Our members will have free use of the IFAF platform to stream as they wish, including a pay-per-view option, and will retain the opportunity to secure their own domestic broadcast partnerships.

"Fans of flag and tackle football around the world will have more games than ever before available to watch on our platform."

IFAF has agreed a three-year deal with Sportall, to further develop IFAF.TV.

Sportall is a French company that runs its own sports streaming application and has so far helped more than 20 sports rights holders launch their own over-the-top platforms.

Flag football is one of nine sports bidding for inclusion at LA 2028, alongside motorsport, cricket, karate, baseball/softball, lacrosse, breaking, kickboxing and squash.