Meta Announces New Cohort in NCAA Partnership to Empower Female Athletes

In an effort to maximize player opportunity, the NCAA is partnered with Meta to back student-athletes in big ways.

Texas Longhorns guard Jordana Codio (13) welcomes Texas Longhorns forward Aaliyah Moore (23) onto the court as the Texas Longhorns prepare to take on the Tennessee Lady Vols in the Moody Center, Jan. 23, 2025. / Sara Diggins/American-Statesman / USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images

Social media isn't new, but athletes and collectives are finding innovative ways to revolutionize player name, image and likeness (NIL) across multiple platforms.

In a new release put out on Jan. 29, Meta announced their new cohort of student-athletes ready to participate in the NCAA's long-standing partnership to empower the next generation of female athletes.

The partnership has been active since 2021. The Meta NIL Empower Program works with hundreds of female student-athletes to help them build a solid and positive social media presence. Through various Meta platforms, players create social media posts and reels to promote themselves, their game, and their teams.

These women are also given the unique opportunity to network with each other, something that doesn't happen often across different sports. Content ideas and confidence are exchanged among athletes during this program, all thanks to the wide reach of social media.

Meta witnessed the fall cohort generate positive results for the partnership, seeing an increase in fan engagement with student-athletes' personal brands.

Meta's recent press release included that 50 athletes in 15 different sports were able to generate over 30 million Reel plays with just 2,500 pieces of content.

Part of the program provides selected student-athletes with resources to help them create high-quality, image-boosting content. Beyond college sports, these athletes now have additional tools to further their image even after their collegiate careers end. This became evident after the fall cohort saw 15 athletes create their own content franchises.

Meta's platforms — Instagram, Threads and Facebook — each target a distinct audience within the social media landscape. The newly selected spring cohort was chosen based on their content creation potential, with many displaying existing talent in the area already.

This spring, 42 universities, 18 sports and three divisions will be represented.

The new class of women will attend virtual training classes to discuss topics such as personal branding, social good, financial literacy and audience engagement.

Meta remains committed to promoting proper social media practices, especially in the new era of NIL.

Each session lasts three months, following the previously mentioned social media education plan to produce the best content throughout the season.

The represented sports include women's basketball, women's fencing, as well as dance, rowing, and field hockey.

The full list of female student-athletes taking part in this season's cohort can be found, here.

The NCAA encourages all female college athletes to participate in their campaign and apply to elevate themselves in future campaigns.