I’ve covered ESPN+ for years, but I’ve never actually tried it until now. I knew it had an enormous number of NHL out-of-market games, UFC PPV events, and lots of other live sports. But now that I’ve given it a spin, I see that there’s more to this sports streamer than meets the eye.
What Sports Can You Watch on ESPN+?
Subscribers can see 32,000+ live events every year.
- UFC Fight Nights
- Exclusive UFC Pay-Per-View events
- 50+ exclusive and 1,000 out-of-market NHL Power Play games per season
- College football, basketball, baseball, softball, volleyball, gymnastics, wrestling, and more from 20 conferences across the country
- LaLiga
- Bundesliga
- FA Cup
- Copa Del Rey
- EFL Championship
- Carabao Cup
- 4,300+ live, exclusive hours of golf coverage across 35 tournaments on PGA TOUR LIVE
- Masters and PGA Championship coverage
- Top Rank Boxing
- Grand Slam tennis
- Major League Baseball
- International cricket
- 25,000+ hours of women’s sports
Live Events Front-and-Center
When you log in, you’ll see any live sports or available ESPN programming with a helpful “live” tag and a red circle. If the event is in progress, you can’t miss it. Live events load quickly and the picture quality is good.
If you’re bored, popping open ESPN+ promises the availability of something live somewhere. On a Wednesday morning, I opened the app to see live coverage of the Louis Vuitton Cup Final sailing race. To be clear, I don’t care about sailing, but I clicked open the event and was surprised at how great the coverage is. They’ve got cameras all over the boats and tons of graphics.
Opening ESPN+ is an opportunity to become a fan of a new sport every day. That’s pretty cool.
Easy Navigation
On my Apple TV, navigation is easy on ESPN+. They’ve helpfully added huge icons for sports and leagues. When I click “Football,” I have the opportunity to drill down further: NFL, NCAA Football, NAIA Football, NJCAA Football, High School Football, and UFL.
It’s especially nice for a global sport like soccer, where you can sort by Spanish LALIGA, German Bundesliga, NWSL, Dutch Eredivisie, Belgian Pro League, Spanish LALIGA 2, German 2 Bundesliga, USL Championship, USL League One, USL Jägermeister Cup, NCAA Men’s Soccer, NCAA Women’s Soccer, Beach Soccer WorldWide, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, and MLS.
Clicking on a league will show live and upcoming events, along with on-demand events.
Scroll down on a league page and you’ll find ESPN’s supplemental programming like “Fantasy Focus” and “Monday Night Countdown” for the NFL. There are clips from commentators about each league. Keep scrolling and you’ll see the fantastic “30 for 30” documentaries about your chosen sport. (All of the “30 for 30s” are great, but it’s nice to have them curated by sport - I haven’t seen that on other platforms.)
Low Ad Load
I was pleasantly surprised to see how few ads there were on ESPN+. You will see commercials during live events, but I didn’t see any when watching on-demand. Occasionally, I’d see one car ad before a video played. Considering the price for ESPN+, that’s a good thing.
On-Demand Issues
When pulling up on demand content, I noticed a significant lag (about 9 seconds) before the videos would play. Some shows lagged even further in the first few seconds, as if the app is pulling in video from the server. In the case of MLS clips, the video quality was quite poor, as if the bitrate had been dialed down. I wonder if MLS broadcaster Apple TV+ supplied a lower-quality video to its competitor.
The curation of some on-demand content also falls short. One NHL clip came straight from the Blue Jackets’ X/Twitter account - there was no setup or analysis, just a raw video clip of a moment of silence before a game. There are other videos ripped straight from social media. No one needs to see vertical video on their TV screens.
Fun Originals
As an NFL fan, I enjoyed the access to ESPN+ originals like “The Breakdown with Peyton and Belichick.” Peyton Manning and Bill Belichick dissect game film. Up-close quality footage from NFL Films makes this even nicer to watch. The show isn’t well-structured — the editors are cobbling together highlights from a long conversation, so it doesn’t flow well.
Other originals include “Full Court Press” about NCAA Women’s Basketball, “ESPN FC Daily” about soccer, “Man in the Arena: Tom Brady,” and the reality show “Tryouts” about athletes trying to join elite sports teams.
Some of these originals are high quality, some look tossed together with minimal production value.
Outstanding Classics
While we all love today’s sports, true fans love seeing events from the past. As I scrolled through, I discovered ESPN+ has some great throwbacks. I’ve never seen a full Mike Tyson fight, but ESPN+ has entire fights from Tyson’s prime. You can watch fights from lots of great boxers, including the famous 1974 “Rumble in the Jungle” with George Foreman and Muhammad Ali. Each event is presented in its entirety with original commentary and graphics.
There are classic NHL Stanley Cup games, old MLB games (including key games from the steroid-fueled 1998 home run race), and old Wimbledon matches.
AutoPlay Fouls
After watching standalone highlights, ESPN automatically started playing a clip of Pat McAfee interviewing Aaron Rodgers. As someone who doesn’t like either of those guys, this is not a feature I want. In fact, ESPN+ insisted on playing that clip after I watched four separate on-demand clips.
There is a way to disable autoplay in the app’s settings. I don’t mind autoplay, I just don’t want it to keep autoplaying the same clip.
Exclusive Articles and Tools
ESPN+ comes with benefits beyond the video platform. You can access exclusive articles on ESPN.com, which is helpful if you play fantasy sports or have a gambling habit. There’s an NCAA basketball tournament bracket helper.
If you eat, drink, and sleep sports, these are nice perks. But there’s no shortage of sports analysis available for free elsewhere.
Features I Wish ESPN+ Had
I wish I could block videos from certain commentators (looking at you, Pat McAfee and Stephen A. Smith).
ESPN+ could be a lot smarter in understanding my preferences. In a year when Facebook and Instagram seem to eavesdrop on my conversations and throw up ads related to my interests, it’s weird ESPN+ can’t figure out that I love football and have no interest in tennis.
You can add favorite teams, but you have to use the ESPN app on your phone or tablet. That’s ridiculous. If ESPN+ can’t determine my favorite sports and teams from what I watch, I should be able to manually choose it through the TV app without going to a second device.
Along those lines, I wish ESPN+ knew to serve up classic games and films related to my interests. All the archival stuff is laid out in a chronological, alphabetical, or random order. You can’t organize by team or athlete.
It would be great if ESPN+ partnered with the leagues themselves. Why can’t we access all of NFL Films? Why can’t we watch all the NBA dunk contests?
For the gamblers among us, the ability to toggle live betting odds would be a nice touch. The ESPN app on my phone offers them, so why not implement ESPNBet options within the ESPN+ TV interface? (Fubo was working on betting connectivity years ago before abandoning the project.)
I also wish ESPN+ offered some programming for kids. ESPN could easily produce programs to help kids learn the rules of the game and some drills to practice. It could also be a useful coaching resource for moms and dads who run the Little League or AYSO teams.
Do I Recommend ESPN+?
ESPN+ is great for some sports fans, but not all.
If you enjoy combat sports, the UFC PPV option probably makes it a must-have. The NHL Power Play package with 1,000+ out-of-market games makes it crucial for hockey fans. The college options are fantastic, especially if you follow sports beyond basketball and football.
ESPN+ is also great if you love the history of a sport. The documentaries are top-notch and seeing classic games as they were originally presented is a fantastic experience. If you’re the kind of person who enjoys having old Rocky Marciano fights on in the background, ESPN+ is for you.
However, the price is too high to justify itself unless you’re watching exclusive live sports. It would make sense to subscribe during your sport’s season, then drop the service afterward.
If you’re considering ESPN+, I recommend getting it, but only as part of a Disney Bundle.
Hulu Live TV
You get ESPN+ for free with Hulu Live TV. If you’re a sports fan, you already need a live TV option for most games. Switch to Hulu Live TV and you’ll get 33 of the top 35 cable channels, along with local channels. Sports fans can watch ESPN, along with 7 regional sports channels and 7 college-specific channels. If you’re a football fan like me, add NFL RedZone.
Hulu Live TV includes an unlimited cloud DVR. Besides free ESPN+, you’ll also get free Disney+ and the great Hulu on-demand library. You can start watching for free with a 3 day FREE trial.
As a combined package for $76.99, this bundle is a good value.
Disney Bundle
If you don’t want Hulu Live TV, you can find value with the standalone Disney Bundle. For $14.99 with ads or $24.99 ad-free, you’ll get ESPN+, Disney+, and Hulu on-demand. That’s a much better value than the standalone price of ESPN+ ($10.99).
Disney+ gives you Disney animated classics, Pixar, Star Wars, Marvel, The Simpsons, and The Muppets. You’ll get Pirates of the Caribbean and the Avatar films. You’ll see musicals like “Hamilton,” “The Greatest Showman,” and “The Sound of Music.” There are also Marvel and Star Wars series like “The Mandalorian,” “Andor,” “Loki,” “Daredevil,” and “WandaVision.”
Hulu is a strong service for adult audiences with great TV shows from the past several decades. Standout originals include “Only Murders in the Building” and “The Handmaid’s Tale.” You’ll get FX hits like “Fargo,” “The Bear,” “Welcome to Wrexham,” “The Americans,” and “What We Do in the Shadows.” Other great shows on Hulu include “Abbott Elementary,” “Schitt’s Creek,” “Modern Family,” “Rick and Morty,” “Family Guy,” “Lost,” “Community,” “Buffy the Vampire Slayer,” “Cheers,” “Frasier,” “MASH,” and “Scandal.”
Conclusion
ESPN+ will be a godsend to fans of some sports, but it still comes off half-baked. Because high-quality content lives alongside slapdash studio shows and social media videos, you’re never sure what you’re about to watch when you stray beyond the live sports.
ESPN needs to invest in a smarter discovery engine to steer subscribers to content that will appeal to them. Right now, it feels like wading through YouTube — a few gems and lots of duds clogging the platform.
Even casual fans will find a lot to enjoy on ESPN+, but it feels like the kind of thing you’d use for a month or two, rather than a year ‘round must-have streamer. The lack of a free trial is disappointing, but understandable, considering how most people will use it.
ESPN+
ESPN+ is a live TV streaming service that gives access to thousands of live sporting events, original shows like Peyton’s Place, the entire library of 30 for 30, E:60, The Last Dance, as well exclusive written analysis from top ESPN insiders. Sports available on ESPN+ include NFL, MLB, NHL, UFC, College Football, F1, Bundesliga, PGA Tour, La Liga, and more.