International Women’s Day 2025: How the HBCU GO Streaming Platform Raises the Profile of Women’s Sports

Reaching beyond Black college sports, the network aims to make games more accessible

Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) and HBCU GO are working together to raise the profile of women’s athletics both on campus and online through television, live streaming, and social media. As the women’s-sports landscape expands, HBCU GO is doing all it can to make games more accessible and to keep the women’s-sports momentum going in 2025 and beyond.

HBCU GO, a live streaming platform and educational network built for the Black community and HBCUs, is the largest sports-rights holder for Black college sports. Billionaire Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group purchased the platform in 2021. According to Karrington Symonds, VP, programming and business development, HBCU GO, the goal is to highlight sports from basketball and football to Olympic sports and other athletic events across multiple HBCU conferences.

In recent years, HBCU GO has signed 10-year rights deals with the Southern Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, Central Intercollegiate Athletic Conference, and Southwestern Athletic Conference.

“When you go to our channel, you see a production that looks similar to a FOX, a CBS, showcasing student-athletes’ talents that I think just haven’t been seen coming out of the space,” Symonds said at the SVG Summit’s SVGW Workshop in December. Part of those media-rights partnerships, he added, is a focus on live broadcasts of women’s-sports events and building more programming and storytelling around women athletes.

“We are showcasing the HBCU landscape 365 days a year,” he said. “There is some great talent on the men’s and women’s side. We want to get them more exposure because that’s the challenge when we talk about the women’s-sports space but also in the HBCU-sports space. We all know that media pushes dollars, and that’s why we’ve been trying to double down on that as we’ve been moving forward.”

HBCU GO on-air talent Nia Symone added, “We do get exposure. That is why HBCU GO is here. Many other platforms are rallied around to move the needle forward with, ‘Hey, this is entertaining. We have band culture. We have culture as a whole. When it comes to the sports, that adds a layer to the storytelling.’”

HBCU GO, which is accessible on the major streaming platforms and through the HBCU GO app, broadcasts games on a national level and syndicates games across local RSNs through relationships in different markets, Symonds said. In 2024, Allen Media Group purchased the Black News Channel out of bankruptcy reportedly for $11 million; it has since been rebranded as TheGrio and distributes sports programming, including via HBCU GO, into more than 50 million households nationwide.

“We really have no barrier to entry to see these games,” said Symonds, noting that men’s and women’s doubleheader basketball games are broadcast on the weekend to maximize exposure for the women’s game. “That was one of the things that my boss, Byron Allen, was big on. He did not want there to be a barrier to entry, whether you had to pay or just find it anywhere. We wanted to give these games away for free and, once again, hold the brands and other sponsors accountable for supporting these opportunities.”

HBCU GO wraps its 2025 basketball season with a finale on Saturday, March 8, International Women’s Day. Coverage of the Jackson State Tigers vs. Mississippi Valley State Delta Devils matchup will be produced by an all-female broadcast team. The in-state rivalry isn’t just about bragging rights, conference dominance, and state pride; it’s a celebration of women making history in sports broadcasting while showcasing the talent in SWAC basketball.

When asked how HBCU GO is expanding coverage of women’s basketball and, more broadly, women’s sports, Symonds said, “It’s putting pressure on the brands.

“This last NCAA run with Caitlin Clark and Angel Reese opened our eyes,” he continued. “The talent has always been there, but it’s about seeing the talent and knowing that it exists. The WNBA has done a great job with what they were able to do this year, so we’ve been riding that momentum, to be perfectly honest with you. It starts with the exposure and the brands and getting them to step in. One of the big ones for us is P&G, which has done a great job working to bring more value to women’s sports. I want to give them kudos because they’ve stepped up. They said, ‘Hey, we see a value here. We want to push this initiative forward.’”