Whoopi Goldberg’s latest venture, the All Women’s Sports Network (AWSN), has been a long time in the making.
“I’ve gotten a lot older, I think, in the last little while, and I’m tired of waiting,” the legendary actor and comedian told CNN Sport’s Don Riddell. “So I’ve figured out that if you want something, you kind of have to go and try to do it. It took 16 years, but what the hey!”
With AWSN having launched in the US last week, Goldberg has finally achieved a long-held ambition. Available in 65 countries and running 24/7, it is the first global network dedicated entirely to women’s sports.
The channel will show live and delayed broadcasts of action from the likes of the UEFA Women’s Nations League, the Women’s Tennis Association and the FIBA 3×3 Women’s Series.
After a huge year for the WNBA, as well as the rapidly growing popularity of women’s soccer and women’s golf, Goldberg explained that AWSN was aiming to show as much as it could from around the world.
“We want it all. And the great thing is, because we’re not just American-based, we can go after things that aren’t being shown. That’s what I’m hoping for. I’m hoping to be the place where, you know, you’re going to see not just women’s sports but anything having to do with women in sports,” she explained.
“I have no problems with ESPN and all those other groups, but they don’t really cover some of the things that people are playing out there.”
Despite the growth of their sports, female athletes still receive far less television coverage than their male counterparts. A 2021 study by USC and Purdue University found that in 2019, 95% of sports’ total television coverage in the US focused on men.
In other countries, the presence of women’s sports in the national consciousness is lagging even further behind. In Saudi Arabia, one of the nations in which AWSN is broadcast, women were banned from even entering sports stadiums until 2018.
One of Goldberg’s aspirations is that the network will make a significant impact on people’s lives all over the globe.
“That’s my hope. I hope so,” she said. “My job is to bring it positively, explain it. Not like people are too dumb, but to explain it and remind people that women have been carrying the ball for a long time.
“My goodness, we have babies and then go play tennis!” she laughed. “We are an extraordinary group of people.
“One of the things that we say at AWSN is that ‘When she wins, we all win.’ It’s one more win for us as a race of human beings. That is my altruistic belief.”
Despite her aim to inspire women across the world, Goldberg explained that the network wants to attract all sports fans, regardless of their gender.
“For some reason, it all seems like it’s compartmentalized,” she said. “And sports shouldn’t be that. It should be the best sportsperson out there. So I believe that die-hard sports fans will get it and say, ‘Okay, let’s see who’s doing what.’”
Goldberg is no stranger to supporting causes she believes in. This year, she has invested in Black-focused streaming platform Blkfam and launched a line of cannabis products, Emma & Clyde, named after her mother and brother.
But the “Sister Act” star said that, aside from her daughter, AWSN may well be the achievement she is most proud of.
“This could be something that will carry on into a future I will not see,” she said. “I like the idea that I have a finger in the future.”