Three-time WNBA champion Candace Parker is opening doors for HBCU students who want to work in sports media.
The retired basketball star is partnering with the Entertainment Industry College Outreach Program (EICOP), a nonprofit workforce development organization, to launch the Candace Parker Sports Media Fellowship. The fellowship aims to address the lack of diversity in sports newsrooms by reducing financial and geographic barriers.
The program offers paid internships in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta, giving students hands-on experience in sports journalism and broadcasting. Fellows also receive housing assistance, mentorship, and professional development.
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Diversity in Sports Newsrooms
In sports like the NBA and the NFL, players of color make up between 70% and 80% of all active rosters. Yet sports newsrooms do not reflect the athletes they cover. A 2021 audit by The Institute for Diversity and Ethics in Sport (TIDES) examined more than 75 U.S. newspapers and digital sports outlets. It found that white men held a commanding majority in every newsroom category, from editors to designers and columnists. Sports editors were 79.2% white and 83.3% male, and people of color held under 25% of all newsroom positions.
The gender gap is just as stark. A 2018 study in the Atlantic Journal of Communication found men wrote more than 90% of sports articles across the U.S., U.K., and Australia. Research from Charles University’s Institute of Communication Studies and Journalism shows that women account for only 12% of sports reporters in the United States. The lack of diversity in newsrooms can affect what stories get told and how athletes are framed.
Parker, who spent 16 years playing in the WNBA, saw the problem firsthand. Now she is offering a new avenue for students from HBCUs to enter the world of sports media.
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The Player Behind the Program
Parker is widely recognized as one of the greatest players in WNBA history. She led the University of Tennessee Lady Vols to two NCAA championships in 2007 and 2008. Then she went first overall to the Los Angeles Sparks in the 2008 WNBA Draft. She is the first and so far only WNBA player to win both Rookie of the Year and MVP in her first season. Over 16 seasons, she spent 13 with the Sparks, two with the Chicago Sky, and one with the Las Vegas Aces. She won three WNBA titles and two Olympic gold medals with Team USA in 2008 and 2012.
After a highly decorated career, Parker retired from professional basketball in 2024. But she didn’t leave the industry; she became a TNT Sports analyst and was named president of Adidas women’s basketball. She has since been inducted into both the Naismith Memorial Basketball Hall of Fame and the Women’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Now she is using her platform to widen the path into sports media.
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Opening Doors for HBCU students
The fellowship targets current HBCU students aspiring to careers in sports, media, and broadcasting. The inaugural cohort launches in the summer of 2027, with paid internships in Los Angeles, New York, and Atlanta. By combining paid wages with dedicated housing support in high-cost media hubs, the initiative aims to remove the financial barriers that would price out lower-income students.
Parker built the fellowship with EICOP, a nonprofit founded by industry veteran Stacy Milner. The organization builds career pathways into entertainment, media, sports, and technology industries for students in HBCUs and Minority Serving Institutions. It works to bridge the gap between education and employment by removing geographic and financial barriers for underrepresented talent. Its flagship career programs, known as HBCU in LA, HBCU in NY, and HBCU in ATL, built the model that the new fellowship follows.
For Parker, the mission is personal. “I’ve spent my whole career in sports, first on the court and now behind the mic, and I know what it means when someone opens the door for you,” Parker said in the announcement video.
Eligible students review the full requirements and submit their application through the EICOP Fellowship Page. The deadline is November 15th.
