By Mekhi Abbott
Special to the AFRO
mabbott@afro.com
With the college basketball season about to tip off, Monumental Sports Network continues to increase the visibility of historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU) by announcing a partnership with Hampton University and its continued partnership with HBCU Go.
Monumental will air 67 college basketball games this upcoming season, a new record high. Of those 67, at least 38 will include at least one HBCU. Monumental will air 20 taped HBCU basketball games specifically through its partnership with HBCU Go. Monumental announced a 20-game collegiate football schedule in August that included both HBCUs and other local universities. The network will also partner with four other schools in the greater Washington, D.C.-Maryland-Virginia area, including George Mason University, Towson University, the University of Richmond and George Washington University.
“With universities from D.C., Maryland, and Virginia, as well as several HBCUs playing on our air this year, we are achieving our goal of using our platform to uplift local athletics at all levels and provide the most robust D.C. sports programming in the market,” said Caitlin Mangum, vice president of content and programming at Monumental Sports via a press release.
The Hampton Pirates will be looking to improve on their record from last year after the men finished with the second-worst record in the Coastal Athletic Association conference. This summer, the Pirates bolstered their roster with the addition of graduate transfer Noah Farrakhan. The New Jersey guard has already scored 1,000 points in his collegiate career and averaged 12.1 points and 2.7 assists during his two seasons at East Carolina.
“HBCU sports are so often underrated and unseen. This partnership gives us an opportunity to be seen as the sports powerhouses that we oftentimes are,” said Mikayla Roberts, a 2023 graduate of Hampton University. “There are so many professional athletes that go to their respective leagues and even the Olympics that aren’t known until they make it to the global stage. Hopefully this partnership gives athletes following in their footsteps greater visibility and support.”
The first slate of college basketball games broadcasting on Monumental Sports Network this season will begin on Nov. 16 with Hampton’s men and women basketball teams playing a doubleheader at 5 p.m. and 8 p.m. EST, respectively. Local college basketball fans with a TV provider will be able to watch games on Monumental Sports Network. Games can also be streamed on monumentalplus.com or on the Monumental+ app.
Stacy M. Brown is an NNPA Newswire Correspondent