Pimlico to Host Baltimore Flag Football Festival

Scott Westcoat, who holds the distinctive title of "director of fun" for ASG Sports, said he always wanted to host an event on the infield of Pimlico Race Course.

He said he wanted the Baltimore Flag Football Festival to be held in the city -- and if he couldn’t hold it at Pimlico, Westcoat didn’t want to do the event at all.

"I love big flat open spaces with parking,” Westcoat said. ASG Sports, located in the East Baltimore Midway neighborhood, is a marketing and entertainment company that arranges special events.

On Saturday, Westcoat will get his wish concerning Pimlico when the flag football festival kicks off on the famed racetrack’s infield.

Westcoat said 463 players had registered for the festival by Thursday afternoon. He said he expected as many as 1,500 to attend the event depending on variables such as weather and the number of people who accompany registered players.

The festival will also feature live music, a cornhole tournament and a prize raffle.

There will be several competition levels and divisions for adult and youth teams ranging in size from five-on-five to eight-on-eight teams.  There is even a $1,200 cash prize for the winning eight-on-eight team in the highest competition bracket. 

The festival came about because ASG Sports, which helps produce the Ravens Walk and Ravens Fun Zone on game days in the M&T Bank Stadium parking lot, was impacted by the truncated training camp due to the NFL lockout earlier this year.  As a result of the shortened training camp, ASG Sports needed to come up with a revenue-generating event and a flag football festival was it.

But for Westcoat, the ASG Sports "director of fun,” the festival isn’t just about generating revenue.

“It has to be fun. Whatever we do has to be fun,” Westcoat said.

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