Tim Cowlishaw posited a question-and-answer article that examines which of the Dallas-Fort Worth area teams is most likely to bring home a championship next.
In his article, Cowlishaw lays out the difficult path of four pro teams: the Cowboys, Mavericks, Stars, and Rangers. What Cowlishaw missed is that Dallas already has a perennial professional championship team: the Texas Elite Spartans of the Women’s National Football Conference (WNFC).
The WNFC has been in existence for three seasons, including the 2022 slate that enters playoff competition on June 9, and of those, the Elite Spartans have brought home the championship twice. In fact, the Lewisville-based women’s tackle football team has gone undefeated for three consecutive seasons.
The Elite Spartans are currently gearing up to take on division rival Kansas City in Jacksonville, Florida, on Thursday. A win will send them to the Eastern Conference Championship game held on Sunday. That’s right, they will play two games in three days.
Should the Spartans continue on their way to victory, they will face the victors of the Western Conference game held in San Diego, California, this season.
The ultimate game will be the IX Cup Championship — named to honor the Constitutional amendment that declared it unconstitutional to deny any person the right to participate in sports based on gender. This year, the IX Cup will occur at the home of the Dallas Cowboys, the Star at Frisco.
“We could never be burdened with just being good, we have to be ELITE,” said Odessa Jenkins, head coach and owner of the Elite Spartans, in an interview with The Dallas Express.
“We worked to build a team so good that the world would take notice of women playing tackle football. We built this team so that the teams around us would have to get better — they would all have to elevate — and the game would be better for it. That is what is happening today,” she declared.
While Cowlishaw’s article almost overlooks women’s pro sports entirely, he does point out that the Dallas Wings of the WNBA are showing youthful talent after not making a championship appearance since moving to Arlington in 2016.
Still, the article makes no mention of how the WNFC and the Texas Elite Spartans represent one of the fastest-growing and most popular pro sports leagues in the U.S.
Meanwhile, neither the Cowboys, Mavs, Rangers, or FC Dallas will win a championship before the undefeated Elite Spartans get a shot later this week.
“Our league is one of the most entertaining in women’s sports,” Jenkins said. “For us, good will never be enough. We play for something bigger than ourselves, and what could be better than closing the season at the Dallas Cowboys headquarters at The Star in Frisco?”
“Whether the world sees it or not, this is one of the greatest teams [ever] assembled, and we are here to play our best ball and work like hell to return home to play the first ever women’s football game at Ford Center,” she added. “History is being made, and the legacy of the Texas Elite Spartans will be a part of that history.”
The Texas Elite Spartans will face Kansas City Glory at 7 p.m. ET on June 9. All games are broadcast live on VYRE network.
