Hollywood star Whoopi Goldberg has signed up to take one of Australia’s biggest sports to the world.

The Sister Act star has signed a deal with Netball Australia to broadcast the sport to more than two billion people on her new All Women’s Sports Network.

The network will broadcast women’s sports from across the world, both live and recorded games, as well as docuseries about specific teams and athletes.

“NETBALL GOES GLOBAL!!! Oh yes it does! Thanks to AWSN and Whoopi Goldberg for seeing the value in our sport!” excited netball legend Liz Ellis wrote on Instagram on Friday as the news broke.

AWSN is a joint venture with Jungo TV and Paramount Global’s free streaming TV (FAST) service Pluto TV. Its goal is “to make women’s sports freely accessible to viewers globally”.

“Soccer, basketball, tennis, cricket, curling – you name it. If a woman is playing it, we’re showing it,” Goldberg told The Jimmy Fallon Show late last year when AWSN launched.

“For years, I’ve been talking to people and saying, ‘Wouldn’t it be great if we could go around the world, start getting young athletes in high school so that we can grow with them and grow up with them? And we can have baseball cards, with our favourite young athlete’.”

The netball deal began when former NFL player Tony Parrish and George Chung, the San Francisco 49ers’ former martial arts coach who co-founded AWSN, contacted Netball Australia.

Talks progressed and the partnership unveiled on Friday is expected to introduce the league to over 65 new countries.

Under the partnership, 41 Suncorp Super Netball matches, including finals, available to AWSN audiences through to 2027.

Super Netball balls and merchandise have been express-posted to the United States, while Goldberg has shared her excitement about the partnership online.

“I see that your fans are really loving you, so we want to make sure that we put you everywhere in the world so that everybody knows about you,” she said.

Riding the coat tails of an increasing global appetite for women’s sport, NA chief executive Stacey West said the deal would be a powerful tool for the sport.

“Suncorp Super Netball is no longer a game that fans seek out, it’s something they cannot miss,” West said.

“This breakthrough deal puts netball on screens across the globe and cements our place at the forefront of women’s sport.

“AWSN shares our vision of taking women’s sport to new heights. Together, we’re creating a platform for our athletes and game to shine like never before.”

It hasn’t been all smooth sailing for the governing body in recent years.

The sport hit financial troubles during the Covid-19 pandemic, making headlines for a $4 million debt before protracted pay talks with players led to Kelly Ryan’s resignation as NA boss in late 2023.

But the Super Netball league audience has grown in recent years.

West highlighted how the 2024 season brought record ratings on Kayo and Foxtel, and an average audience of 57,000 per match.

“AWSN shares our vision of taking women’s sport to new heights,” West said.

“Together, we’re creating a platform for our athletes and game to shine like never before.”

Super Netball games will continue to screen on Kayo Sports, Foxtel and Binge in Australia.

-with AAP