The inaugural season of Eastern College Athletic Conference (ECAC) women's flag football is officially underway.

On Friday at MetLife Stadium, the New York Jets hosted the first-ever ECAC women's flag football media day, bringing together athletes and coaches from the conference's 15 schools as they begin spring competition.

The media day and upcoming season follow the announcement of a $1 million grant provided by the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation last December, which helped fund the creation of the largest collegiate women's flag football league in the nation.

"It's unbelievable," ECAC Commissioner Dan Coonan said Friday. "This is why you do it. Just seeing the smiles on their faces and what its adding to their lives, what its adding to the universities and to the student life at the universities. Just a [great] moment for women's sports in America. I can't express how excited we are. All of the work and effort comes to fruition on a day like today."

The event introduced the conference's teams to local and national media, provided athletes with content capturing opportunities and included a stadium locker room tour. Additionally, Kay Adams, host Up & Adams, moderated a panel discussion focused on the continued growth of girl's and women's flag football in the United States and abroad. Panelists included Coonan, Brianna Hernandez-Silva-- a Team USA flag football player -- and Callie Brownson, USA Football senior director of high performance and national team operations.

"When we were younger, we didn't have a lot of female role models in the sport of football or people that we could look up to in this space," Brownson shared with attendees during the panel discussion. "And like they say, if she can see it, she can be it. … You're looking at all these people that are role models. Now, you're the role model."

Ryann Blount, a freshman running back at Long Island University, reflected on the impact of the panel discussion.

"It just shows the opportunities that are there and who you can become within this sport," she said. "Right now, the sport is growing, but five or 10 years from now, it's going to be even bigger. There are going to be more job opportunities, more professional opportunities and it just shows that you can be up there, just like them."

The launch of the ECAC women's flag football league is the latest milestone for the Jets, an organization that has spent the last decade pioneering the growth of the game for young girls and women. In 2011, the Jets became the first NFL organization to help launch girls flag football at the varsity level, and in 2021, the club joined forces with Nike to launch the first high school girls flag league in New Jersey. Last week, the Jets hosted their third annual girls high school flag football media day at MetLife Stadium.

The monumental investment at the high school level has played a critical role in laying a foundation for women like Ella Grace Cocuzza,. A freshman at Saint Joseph's University, Cocuzza is a former high school player who participated in the first two Jets' girls high school flag football media days.

"This is my third time here, so it's kind like a home feel," Cocuzza said. "It's a great time to just think back on everything I accomplished in high school with the Jets, to now bring it to college. Just being here with my new team, it feels amazing to be back."

She added: "I think [the ECAC] will get more people to come out and play. Then, younger kids can look up and see all of these older girls playing flag football, which used to be male dominated. Now to see women, it's an amazing thing."

The inaugural season of ECAC flag football will feature the 7-on-7 format of flag football, with regular season games set to be played through April on campus sites. The season will culminate with a championship game in May at the Atlantic Health Jets Training Center in Florham Park, New Jersey, with future championships expected to be played at MetLife Stadium.

"This wouldn't have happened without the Jets, or it would have happened at a dramatically different level," Coonan said. "It wouldn't have this kind of excitement. There's credibility with this whenever they walk in the facility and see all the Jets logos. It's meant everything -- the Betty Wold Johnson Foundation and the grants they are providing as well. It's a game changer."