Serena Williams, husband bid on NFL flag football venture

Retired tennis great Serena Williams and her husband, Alexis Ohanian, have submitted a bid as potential investors to the NFL's planned pro flag football men's and women's leagues, Front Office Sports reported.

A league spokesperson confirmed the bid to the league's request for proposal. The bid comes on the heels of Williams' attendance at the NFL owners meetings last week as part of a panel conversation on women's sports.

FOS reported that the NFL is looking to invest in the leagues but have other partners operate them. The NFL eyes selling media rights for the leagues once they're operational.

Ten companies so far have approached the NFL about investing in the venture, per Sports Business Journal.

"It's clear that there's a lot of interest in a pro flag league," NFL commissioner Roger Goodell told reporters. "We've been getting bids on people who want to invest in that either financially or invest in the operations of that. So, we're hard at work, and I expect there'll be progress soon."

The deadline for submissions is this week. However, there's no timeline for launch of the leagues or franchise locations, per SBJ.

--Field Level Media