Whoopi Goldberg Set to Launch New Women’s Sports Network in U.S.

It’s an idea 16 years in the making – the award-winning actress’ All Women’s Sports Network is expanding to become the first global channel dedicated to women’s sports.

In the world of women’s sports broadcasting, Whoopi Goldberg is stepping up to the plate.

The EGOT winner and co-host of ABC’s “The View” announced the pending American launch of the All Women’s Sports Network, or AWSN, a new global television channel that exclusively airs women’s sports — the first of its kind. Goldberg shared the news about her project, set to debut in the U.S. later this month, during a recent appearance on “The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.”

She said that the network broadcasts everything “from soccer, basketball, tennis, cricket, curling — you name it.” Goldberg added to Fallon, “If a woman is playing it, we’re showing it.”

CommonSpirit Health, a nonprofit that offers healthcare services to women, is partnering with AWSN on its growth. The network has already launched in several countries throughout Asia and the Middle East, as well as on India’s JioTV.

Goldberg said that AWSN, which will eventually broadcast women’s sporting events around the clock in 65 countries in all, is an idea 16 years in the making. As a child, Goldberg always wanted to play sports, but was discouraged from doing so — even though her brother actively participated in them. “For years, I’ve been talking to people and saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we can go around the world [and] start getting young athletes in high school, so that we can grow up with them?’” Goldberg recalled. “We don’t really have that relationship to women’s sports.”

Goldberg’s launch follows the debuts of several other initiatives bringing women’s sports to the forefront, with the Women’s Pro Baseball League recently announcing its planned official launch in 2026. And earlier this year, Dove partnered with tennis star Venus Williams for its #KeepHerConfident project, in a bid to help young girls feel comfortable and confident participating in sports.

According to a 2023 study by sports marketing agency Wasserman, women’s sports made up 15% of total media coverage, with social media and streaming services playing a significant role in even that minimal reach. When collegiate competitions are removed from the equation, the stat drops down to 8%. The ongoing – incorrect – assumption of “lower media representation for women’s sports have created hesitancy around investment,” Wasserman’s executive vice president Shelley Pisarra adds.

There are also persistent gaps in women’s participation in sports that a broadcasting boost might help to address. According to a report released earlier this year by the U.S. Government Accountability Office, there was a 14% difference in the participation rate for women in varsity college athletics, compared to their college enrollment rate from 2021 to 2022. And while women’s enrollment in college outnumber men’s, more male students play sports.

Goldberg, by way of AWSN, aims to play a crucial role in “rectifying the imbalance” in women’s sports representation, while “championing the cause of female athletes one step at a time,” its website states — because “when [a woman athlete] wins, we win.”

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