Whoopi Goldberg’s New Venture: Launching the All Women’s Sports Network
On November 13, 2024, Whoopi Goldberg celebrated her 69th birthday with the announcement of her new business venture, a television network dedicated solely to women’s sports. Whoopi aspires for the network to become a hub for live women’s sports all over the world ranging from soccer, basketball, cricket, and many more. In addition, the network will promote women’s overall health and wellness in collaboration with CommonSpirit Health as one of the network’s sponsors.
“It will be the home for live women’s sports around the world,” said Whoopi on The Jimmy Fallon Show. “If a woman is playing it, we’re showing it,” she continued.
This channel has launched in Asia, the Middle East, and the United States in partnership with JungoTV, an international streaming company.
“I wanted to do this because ever since I was a little kid, I always wanted to play sports. And my brother could play. He played softball. He played baseball. He played basketball. He played everything, and they would say ‘Oh, hi, little girl.’ And it always pissed me off.”
Whoopi had this idea for 16 years and finally, it’s coming to fruition. This year has been massive for the growth of women’s sports. The world is finally seeing women athletes for their talent, drive, and passion for their sports.
This year, the 2024 National Women’s Soccer League Championship averaged over 967,000 viewers, an 18% increase from last year's match and making it the most-watched match in history. The Women’s National Basketball League also had its most-viewed finals in 25 years with a viewership increase of 115%. In addition, the WNBA regular season had the most viewership ever across ESPN platforms.
“Our goal is to have the largest distributed female sports network in the world, digital or broadcast,” said Whoopi in an interview with Essence.
It’s the first-ever women’s sports broadcast network and will stream over 2,000 hours of live, first-run programming of women's sports. It’s important that female athletes aren’t treated as less than their male counterparts and that they have their own space to build positive communities, like the one that will be created with this network dedicated solely to them. It tells an inspiring message that women can reach the same heights in their careers and they deserve to be celebrated and discussed just the same as the men in their same positions.
Zuri Primos is an Intern for Hope Magazine. She is a student at Dillard University and the Editor-in-chief of the Dillard University student paper, the Courtbouillon.