Meet the New Host: Ashley Nicole Moss of 106 & Sports

By: Jewel Benton

Like many of us, Ashley Nicole Moss had a dream. And like most dreams, the path to achieving it was unpredictable.  

Growing up, Moss bonded with her father over sports. But it was not just watching the games that sparked her interest. She enjoyed dissecting them, analyzing them, and debating them. That passion inspired her to pursue sports journalism. Despite graduating at the top of her class from Florida Atlantic University with a 3.8 GPA, the opportunities were less than abundant.  

She recalls her thought at the time. “’ESPN is going to be waiting for me once I walk across this graduation stage and they're going to have a job for me and I'm going to be set and good to go from that point forward.’ And that's not how it goes.  Maybe it is how it goes for some people and they're the very few and far in between. And it's that old saying, the exception, not the rule. Most of us are the rule and not the exception.” 

Disappointed but determined, Moss broke into the industry and quickly made her mark. She became the first Black woman to serve as a host and analyst for Sports  Illustrated's Laces Up and amassed a résumé that includes barrier-breaking work with UNINTERRUPTED, I AM ATHLETE, and CBS Sports including the acclaimed series Triple Threat. 

Her upcoming position, releasing this fall, is also turning heads. She was recently announced as the co-host of 106 & Sports alongside Cam Newton, a modern sports-centered revival of the iconic series 106 & Park. The announcement has generated plenty of buzz and “split” reactions.  

“I think specifically when you talk about Black Sports fans, they are looking for  shows and dialogues that represent them and the community,” Moss says. “BET was one of the first to really put HBCU games on primetime and on network and made it accessible for people all over the country to watch them. And I think that people are hungry for that again.” 

She adds that people are interested in sports beyond the game. “They like to talk about the culture of the game, not necessarily the analytics. And I think they're 

missing those conversations. And to the defense of some networks, there are parameters of things you can and cannot talk about. You adhere to your personal audience. And I think that's where BET is going to have a leg up because our audience is going to be drastically different than the audience of most sports networks.” 

To connect with Moss, you can do so here on X.