San Diego is looking to join Chicago and Boston as one of the few cities in the nation that a gay flag football league can call home. The San Diego American Flag Football League (SDAFFL) will kick off its inaugural season on Feb. 28 with an eight-week schedule, followed by playoffs that will lead up to the first annual San Diego Flag Football Invitational in May.

The league is currently holding practices and tryouts for new players in Balboa Park on Saturdays at 12:00 noon. Practices are held in the park at the corner of 6th and Laurel. Early response to the new league has been good, said league Commissioner Ivan Solis.

“We’re looking to have four teams, and right now we have over 30 people signed up,” Solis told the Gay and Lesbian Times. “That’s a good sign because it’s so early. We still have two more tryouts before the draft.”

If the spring season is successful, which early factors indicate is likely, there will probably be a second season to follow.

“We’re going to try to do two seasons,” Solis said. “A spring and a summer season because we can play all year round, unlike other cities with the rain and weather.”

The league has already secured four team sponsors for the first season, including the Bourbon Street Hurricanes, the Hamburger Mary’s Cowboys, Sdhomepix.com/Bill Vivian realtor, and Dave & Buster’s Game Boys.

The addition of Dave & Buster’s to the list of sponsors is catching a lot of people’s eyes.

“It’s a huge deal,” Solis said.

Dave & Buster’s joins Agouron Pharmaceuticals, which has sponsored teams in the America’s Finest City Softball League for the last two years, as one of the few major corporate sponsors in San Diego’s gay sports leagues.

For anyone looking to get to know the current members of the SDAFFL, they will be holding a pub-crawl this weekend to hit all the major bars in town and recruit new players for the league. It gets underway at Top of the Park at 7:30 p.m., so be sure to look for players wearing the green and gold football jerseys at all of the popular hot spots.

In the meantime, important dates for anyone interested in playing flag football include weekly practices and tryouts in Balboa Park every Saturday through Jan. 31. Registration is due by the Jan 31, and the league draft to select players will be held on Sunday, Feb. 1, at Bourbon Street during their annual Superbowl party. League play will begin on Feb. 28.

For more information about the SDAFFL, visit the www.gaylesbiantimes.com and click on this story for a link to the league’s website.