During a week in which athletes in several sports walked off the job to protest social and racial injustice, sports networks devoted plenty of airtime to those topics.

On-air conversations about race have been common in sports media because it is more diverse, particularly with more Black on-air talent than the rest of news media.

Former athletes have a pipeline to advance into sports media as commentators, and many popular shows feature a Black man or woman as a host.

Chris Webber’s emotional comments in support of NBA players’ boycott of playoff games generated millions of views.

Webber says it was the same conversation he’s had in private countless times.