I am an admitted college football obsessive. During the season, I have three TVs in my living room, with often at least two of them on a multiview, so I can consume nine to 12 games at a time (yes, the image above is my actual living room). In online parlance, I am what you would call a college football sicko. So as we head into the sport’s postseason, I am filled with a mix of conflicting emotions: first, I am disappointed that we will no longer have the full slate of games every Saturday that create a 12-hour wall-to-wall viewing experience. But second, I am thrilled that for the next five weeks, we will essentially have important football games (depending on how you want to define “important” in the modern college football landscape) every single day when you throw in NFL games.

How to watch the 2025-26 college football bowl season

Now, I realize that I am not your typical college football viewer. If there is a game on, I will watch it, but bowl season for many fans is more singularly focused on their specific team of choice, and perhaps the College Football Playoff as well. Fortunately, whether you are someone who needs to stream every single game or you just want to dip into Bowl Season for a game or two, Sling TV offers the most cost-efficient way to watch as many games as you want.

The vast majority of bowl games this season (40 of 45, or 89%) will air on a channel that is a part of the ESPN Family of Networks, and two of the five that will air elsewhere were sublicensed from ESPN to Warner Bros. Discovery. This means that having the ability to watch ESPN, ESPN2, and ABC is of the utmost importance for college football fans. CBS, The CW, and Fox will all carry a single bowl game apiece, while TNT will air the two aforementioned sublicensed College Football Playoff games.

Now, while generally, when it comes to my fellow diehard fans, I would recommend getting a live TV streaming service that carries all of the channels you need in one place, because nearly 90% of bowl games will be found far cheaper on Sling, I am going with that option for the CFB crazies out there. But here’s how you can see the other games without having to pay for one of the more expensive plans.

How to watch all of the 2025 college football bowl games

The most cost-effective live TV streaming way to get all of the bowl games available on the ESPN family of networks is by combining Sling’s base Orange and Blue plans. Individually, they cost as little as $46 per month ($51 if you live in certain markets with more local affiliates), but combined, they are $66 per month, but Sling is currently running a deal where you can get your first month half off, so it would only cost you $33. This would get you access to 40 of the 45 bowl games in one fell swoop.

Keep in mind that Sling only offers ABC in a handful of markets, and as of earlier this week, Disney has shut down ESPN3, which allowed Sling subscribers to watch all of ABC’s sports content regardless of market. The regions that Sling carries ABC in are listed below, but even if you don’t live in one of these markets, there is a way to catch ABC without adding another subscription, so check that out at the bottom of this section.

Sling’s local ABC markets

Another relatively low-cost way to stream all of the ESPN’s games is via the newly expanded ESPN app. What once was known as ESPN+ is now known as ESPN Select, part of the larger standalone streaming service from the worldwide leader in sports that contains streams of all of ESPN’s cable channels, as well as exclusive content and the worldwide leader’s on-demand library.

ESPN’s app will be the only place that you will be able to stream all of the remaining games on both the men’s and women’s sides of the College Cup action. ESPN’s lowest tier, ESPN Select, essentially is just the rebranded ESPN+, this costs just $13 per month. However, to stream the bowl games, you would need to opt for the ESPN Unlimited tier for $30 monthly, which includes all of the ESPN Select programming, as well as all of the ESPN linear channels and streaming exclusives.

Then, for the devilishly fun Sun Bowl on Wednesday, Dec. 31, between Arizona State and Duke, you will need access to CBS. Fortunately, the broadcast network’s streaming sibling Paramount+ comes with a one-week free trial. So you can stream that game, NFL action, and much more without having to pay a penny. Just make sure that you sign up for the Paramount+ Premium plan, as it is the only one with access to your local CBS affiliate.

Similarly, the Holiday Bowl, which will feature Arizona vs. SMU on Friday, Jan. 2, will be broadcast on Fox. Right before the start of the football season, the media conglomerate launched Fox One. The streamer will provide cord-cutters access to all of the content that they could watch on Fox’s broadcast and cable channels, and (again), it comes with a seven-day free trial.

The last game to worry about when stacking service is the Snoop Dogg Arizona Bowl on Saturday, Dec. 27, which will see the Miami (OH) Redhawks taking on the Fresno State Bulldogs. That one will air on [The CW.] Unfortunately, there is no standalone subscription video-on-demand (SVOD) platform available for the channel, but you still have options.

If you want to stick strictly in the streaming world, The CW is available on DIRECTV, Fubo, Hulu + Live TV, and YouTube TV, and all three offer free trials of various lengths. DIRECTV’s is the most consistently long at five days, but YouTube TV and Fubo can sometimes offer up to two weeks, depending on whether or not you meet certain nebulous criteria that they won’t disclose until you are into the sign-up process.

While those free trials are nice, if you forget to cancel them, you will be automatically charged for a full month at the going rate, which is anywhere from $40 to $83. But, one way to get CBS, The CW, and Fox (and ABC if you are not in one of Sling’s select markets) is with an over-the-air (OTA) antenna. While this method could be considered fairly old-school, modern antennae are far more powerful than their old, rabbit-ear predecessors.

You can get either an indoor or outdoor antenna, and it will allow you to watch all of the channels available through over-the-air signals available in your market. Additionally, Sling will allow you to integrate those networks into its channel guide, so you can more easily bounce back and forth to find the games and shows that you want to watch. So while there is an upfront cost to purchase an antenna, after that, all of the TV you watch with it is completely free.

That, ultimately, if you are looking for the cheapest way to watch every game of the upcoming bowl season (or just all sports year-round), I recommend going with Sling and an antenna. It will only cost you S33 for the next month, and $66 from there on out.

How to watch individual 2025 college football bowl games

Now, I admit, pairing a Sling subscription with an antenna is a little complicated. And while I still believe that the streamer is the best option for CFB sickos like myself, Sling really takes the cake when it comes to providing flexibility for more casual fans. Earlier this fall, Sling introduced its newest innovation, Passes. These short-term subscriptions allow you to sign up for service for as little as one day.

This means that if your favorite team has a bowl game that you need to see, but you don’t normally pay for a live TV streaming service, then you would only have to pay $5 to watch it. However, you can also sign up for the 3-Day pass for $10 or the 7-Day pass for $15. So, if you want to catch bowl games between Christmas and New Year’s, it’s only going to run you $15.

What makes this such a wonderful feature is that Sling is he first streamer to provide customers this type of option that allows them to only pay for the content they want. If you just want to watch a game on Jan. 1, there’s no need to pay for the entire month. However, if you want to catch a game on Dec. 30, another on Jan. 1, and want to be able to watch the ball drop on New Year’s Eve, Sling lets you do that for just $10.

So, whether you need to watch every single second of every single game, or just want to pop in and out of bowl season, in my opinion, Sling is the best option.

Save with Sling

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Sling TV

Sling TV is The Streamable’s choice for cord-cutters on a budget. Sling is a live TV streaming service with multiple channel packages. The $45.99/month Sling Orange plan offers about 30 channels, including Disney Channel and ESPN. The $45.99/month Sling Blue plan offers about 40 channels, including ABC, Fox, and NBC in major markets.

You can combine Orange+Blue for a total of $60.99 / month. Sling also offers many channel add-on packages starting at $6/month.

Save with Sling

$19.99+ / month

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What is the 2025-26 college football bowl schedule