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Cookie Policy

Last Updated: 7-6-2026

This Cookie Notice explains how the National Collegiate Athletic Association (“NCAA,” “we,” “us,” or “our“) may use cookies and similar tracking technologies across NCAA-branded and NCAA-operated digital properties and services where this notice is posted or linked, including NCAA.org; NCAATickets.com; NCAAHallofChampions.org (collectively, the “Services“). This Cookie Notice does not apply to websites or platforms that merely display the NCAA logo through a licensing arrangement (such as NCAA.com or other sites operated by third parties under license).


This Cookie Notice also explains what these technologies are, why we may use them, and the choices you may have regarding their use. It should be read together with our Privacy Notice, which provides additional information about how we collect, use, and share Personal Information. Capitalized terms that are not defined in this Cookie Notice have the meaning given to them in our Privacy Notice.

1. What Are Cookies and Similar Technologies?

Cookies are small text files that are placed on your device (computer, tablet, or mobile phone) by your web browser when you visit a website. Cookies may be “first-party” (placed by us) or “third-party” (placed by our service providers or partners). They may be “session cookies,” which expire when you close your browser, or “persistent cookies,” which remain on your device until they expire or until you delete them.

We may also use other technologies that function similarly to cookies. In this Cookie Notice, we refer to cookies and these other technologies collectively as “cookies” unless stated otherwise. Depending on the Services you use, and the features enabled, the other technologies we and our partners may use include:

  • Web beacons / pixel tags: Tiny graphics or snippets of code embedded in web pages or emails that link to servers and related cookies. They may help us measure the effectiveness of campaigns, understand usage, and deliver content. Where enabled, we and our partners, including retargeting service providers, may use pixels placed on our websites to set cookies on the browsers of visitors for the purpose of serving targeted advertisements on other websites, apps, and platforms. These pixels may be placed and operated by third-party partners in accordance with their instructions, this Cookie Notice, and our Privacy Notice.
  • Advertising identifiers: Resettable identifiers provided by mobile operating systems including Apple’s Identifier for Advertisers (IDFA) and Google’s Advertising ID (AAID). These may function similarly to cookies and may be used for advertising and analytics purposes.
  • Session replay technologies: Tools that may record how you interact with the Services (such as clicks, scrolling, and navigation) to help us diagnose issues, analyze usage, and improve your experience.
  • Local storage and similar technologies: Web browsers and apps may also use local storage (including HTML5 local storage and caches) and software development kits (“SDKs”) to save information directly on your device. These technologies are often used to remember settings, speed up performance, or support app functionality. SDKs may also recognize you across our websites and across your devices and collect data on your interactions with our Services. We may also use SDKs for analytics. 
  • Device and browser fingerprinting: In some cases, we may use technical information about your browser, device, or network (such as fonts, screen resolution, or plug-ins) to help recognize your device for security, analytics, or advertising purposes.

These cookies may be deployed by us, our partners, or third-party analytics or advertising providers, either on our behalf or for their own purposes. Depending on how they are used, they may deliver information to you or about you and connect information about you across different sources, websites, devices, and applications.

To learn more about cookies generally, visit www.allaboutcookies.org.  

2. What Cookies Do We Use and Why?

Depending on the Services you use and the features enabled, the cookies we may use generally fall into the following four categories:

CategoryDescription
Essential cookiesEssential cookies are necessary for our Services to function, such as enabling page navigation, security, authentication, fraud prevention, and access to secure areas. These cookies generally cannot be disabled through our cookie preference center. 
Statistics cookiesPerformance cookies help us measure and improve the performance of our websites and understand how visitors use them, measure traffic and usage trends, and improve performance.
Functional cookiesFunctional cookies help us enhance the performance and functionality of our websites, including by remembering your preferences and settings.
Marketing cookiesTargeting cookies are used to deliver relevant ads, measure the effectiveness of our marketing campaigns, and help us retarget you across websites, apps, and platforms. Retargeting through our partners, including via pixels placed on our websites, may include the provision of anonymous consumer information and/or consumer email addresses to third-party partners. To opt out of interest-based advertising through participating companies, you can visit the Network Advertising Initiative opt-out page at www.networkadvertising.org/managing/opt_out.asp. 

We and our partners may use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your activities over time and across third-party websites, applications, or other online services (sometimes referred to as “behavioral tracking” or “cross-context behavioral advertising”). For example, we or our partners may track your activity when you visit a partner’s website.

3. Third-Party Cookies and Technologies 

Some of the cookies and similar technologies used on our Services may be placed by third parties, including our service providers, analytics providers, advertising partners, and ticketing, ecommerce, and event-services providers such as Paciolan (including its e.Venue platform). These third parties may use cookies and similar technologies to collect information about your use of our Services and, where applicable, their own platforms for purposes including analytics, advertising, measurement, and retargeting. 

Where required by applicable law, we will seek your consent before storing or accessing cookies or similar technologies on your device. You can manage your preferences at any time through our cookie preference center (where available) or through your browser or device settings. Please note that our Services may incorporate third-party technologies, including those provided by ticketing, ecommerce, and event-services providers, that collect data through cookies and similar technologies for their own purposes as well as ours; their data collection practices are also governed by their own privacy policies. If you disable cookies, some parts of the Services may not function properly.

You have several options to control or limit the use of cookies, including:

  • Cookie Preference Center: We have implemented a cookie preference center that allows you to manage your cookie preferences by cookie category. You can manage your Cookie Settings here.
  • Mobile Device Settings: iOS and Android operating systems also provide options to limit tracking or reset your advertising identifiers. Please refer to your device’s settings for more information.
  • State Privacy and Advertising Choices: Depending on your state of residence, you may have the right to opt out of our use of cookies and tracking technologies for targeted advertising or from the “sale” or “sharing” of your Personal Information for purposes of cross-context behavioral advertising under applicable U.S. state privacy laws. You can exercise these rights through our “Do Not Sell or Share My Personal Information” link in the footer of our Site. For more details, please see the “Your Privacy Rights” and “Exercising Your Privacy Rights” sections of our Privacy Notice.
  • Global Privacy Control (GPC): We have tools in place to detect and honor requests made using the Global Privacy Control (“GPC”) signal to opt-out of the sale or sharing of Personal Information to the extent required by applicable law. The GPC sends signals to the websites you visit indicating your choice to opt-out from certain types of data processing. We endeavor to honor these requests with respect to any Personal Information connected to the GPC opt-out request based on the information made available by GPC. We may not be able to tie a GPC request to all Personal Information we have about you. If you wish to exercise your rights to opt out of the sale or sharing of your Personal Information under applicable state privacy laws, we recommend configuring your browser to send an opt-out signal via GPC, submitting your cookie preferences via our cookie preference center, and submitting a request using one of the methods outlined in the “Exercising Your Privacy Rights” section of our Privacy Notice. We do not currently support the capability to respond to web browser “do not track” signals.
  • Email Providers: Your email provider may also have settings that allow you to prevent the automatic download of images, including web beacons, which prevents the automatic connection to the web servers that host those images.

Your choices may be browser- and device-specific, and you may need to repeat your choices if you use a different browser or device or if you clear your cookies. Please note that if you disable or block cookies, some features of the Services may not function properly. 

You can learn more and opt-out of tracking by some third-party partners by visiting: 

5. Your Privacy Rights

Depending on your state of residence, you may have additional rights regarding cookies and tracking technologies, subject to certain exceptions. For full details on your rights and how to exercise them, please see our Privacy Notice.

We reserve the right to change this Cookie Notice at any time in our sole discretion. If we make changes, we will post the revised Cookie Notice here. If we make a material change to this Cookie Notice, we will notify of such change as required by law. By continuing to use our services after notice is provided, you accept and agree to this Cookie Notice as modified.

7. Contact Details

If you have any questions about this Cookie Notice, you may contact us as described in the “Contact Details” section of our Privacy Notice.

Essential

Essential cookies enable basic functions and are necessary for the proper function of the website.

NameDescriptionDuration
wpconsent_preferencesThis cookie is used to store the user's cookie consent preferences.30 days

CloudFlare

CloudFlare provides web performance and security solutions, enhancing site speed and protecting against threats.

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NameDescriptionDuration
cf_use_obThe cf_use_ob cookie informs Cloudflare to fetch the requested resource from the Always Online cache on the designated port. Applicable values are: 0, 80, and 443. The cf_ob_info and cf_use_ob cookies are persistent cookies that expire after 30 seconds.session
__cfwaitingroomThe __cfwaitingroom cookie is only used to track visitors that access a waiting room enabled host and path combination for a zone. Visitors using a browser that does not accept cookies cannot visit the host and path combination while the waiting room is active.session
cf_chl_rc_iThese cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.session
cf_chl_rc_niThese cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.session
cf_chl_rc_mThese cookies are for internal use which allows Cloudflare to identify production issues on clients.session
__cfruidUsed by the content network, Cloudflare, to identify trusted web traffic.session
__cf_bmCloudflare's bot products identify and mitigate automated traffic to protect your site from bad bots. Cloudflare places the __cf_bm cookie on End User devices that access Customer sites that are protected by Bot Management or Bot Fight Mode. The __cf_bm cookie is necessary for the proper functioning of these bot solutions.session
__cflbWhen enabling session affinity with Cloudflare Load Balancer, Cloudflare sets a __cflb cookie with a unique value on the first response to the requesting client. Cloudflare routes future requests to the same origin, optimizing network resource usage. In the event of a failover, Cloudflare sets a new __cflb cookie to direct future requests to the failover pool.session
_cfuvidThe _cfuvid cookie is only set when a site uses this option in a Rate Limiting Rule, and is only used to allow the Cloudflare WAF to distinguish individual users who share the same IP address.session
cf_clearanceWhether a CAPTCHA or Javascript challenge has been solved.session
__cfseqSequence rules uses cookies to track the order of requests a user has made and the time between requests and makes them available via Cloudflare Rules. This allows you to write rules that match valid or invalid sequences. The specific cookies used to validate sequences are called sequence cookies.session
cf_ob_infoThe cf_ob_info cookie provides information on: The HTTP Status Code returned by the origin web server. The Ray ID of the original failed request. The data center serving the trafficsession

Google reCAPTCHA

Google reCAPTCHA helps protect websites from spam and abuse by verifying user interactions through challenges.

NameDescriptionDuration
_GRECAPTCHAGoogle reCAPTCHA sets a necessary cookie (_GRECAPTCHA) when executed for the purpose of providing its risk analysis.179 days

Google Tag Manager

Google Tag Manager simplifies the management of marketing tags on your website without code changes.

NameDescriptionDuration
cookiePreferencesRegisters cookie preferences of a user2 years
tdRegisters statistical data on users' behaviour on the website. Used for internal analytics by the website operator.session

Google Translate

NameDescriptionDuration
googtransUsed to remember the user's language translation selection.

Login

These cookies are used for managing login functionality on this website.

NameDescriptionDuration
wordpress_logged_inUsed to store logged-in users.Persistent
wordpress_secUsed to track the user across multiple sessions.15 days
wordpress_test_cookieUsed to determine if cookies are enabled.Session

Statistics

Statistics cookies collect information anonymously. This information helps us understand how visitors use our website.

Font Awesome

Font Awesome is a service used for custom fonts and icons on our site. The tracking cookies are used for general font usage for FontAwesome's analytics.

NameDescriptionDuration
_fbpFacebook pixel used for tracking usage of fonts.
__utmaGoogle Analytics used for tracking font usage.2 Weeks
__utmzGoogle Analytics used for tracking font usage.2 Weeks
ph_phc_PostHog tracking for font usage.2 Weeks

Google Analytics

Google Analytics is a powerful tool that tracks and analyzes website traffic for informed marketing decisions.

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NameDescriptionDuration
_galiUsed by Google Analytics to determine which links on a page are being clicked30 seconds
_ga_ID used to identify users2 years
_gidID used to identify users for 24 hours after last activity24 hours
_gatUsed to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests when using Google Tag Manager1 minute
_gac_Contains information related to marketing campaigns of the user. These are shared with Google AdWords / Google Ads when the Google Ads and Google Analytics accounts are linked together.90 days
__utmaID used to identify users and sessions2 years after last activity
__utmtUsed to monitor number of Google Analytics server requests10 minutes
__utmbUsed to distinguish new sessions and visits. This cookie is set when the GA.js javascript library is loaded and there is no existing __utmb cookie. The cookie is updated every time data is sent to the Google Analytics server.30 minutes after last activity
__utmcUsed only with old Urchin versions of Google Analytics and not with GA.js. Was used to distinguish between new sessions and visits at the end of a session.End of session (browser)
__utmzContains information about the traffic source or campaign that directed user to the website. The cookie is set when the GA.js javascript is loaded and updated when data is sent to the Google Anaytics server6 months after last activity
__utmvContains custom information set by the web developer via the _setCustomVar method in Google Analytics. This cookie is updated every time new data is sent to the Google Analytics server.2 years after last activity
__utmxUsed to determine whether a user is included in an A / B or Multivariate test.18 months
_gaID used to identify users2 years

Marketing

Marketing cookies are used to follow visitors to websites. The intention is to show ads that are relevant and engaging to the individual user.

Facebook Pixel

Facebook Pixel is a web analytics service that tracks and reports website traffic.

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NameDescriptionDuration
_fbcUsed to track the last session visit.12 months
_fbpUsed to track the user across multiple sessions.3 months
frUsed to track the user across multiple sessions.3 months

TikTok Pixel

TikTok Pixel is a tracking tool that measures user interactions and optimizes ad campaigns on the TikTok platform.

Learn more
NameDescriptionDuration
ttclidUsed for advertising and conversion tracking.13 months