ESPN+ is an American
over-the-top subscription
video streaming service available in the United States, owned by
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution
Disney Media and Entertainment Distribution (DMED), formerly Walt Disney Direct-to-Consumer & International (DTCI), is one of The Walt Disney Company's five major business segments consisting of Disney's streaming services and overseas media busi ...
, in partnership with
ESPN Inc., which is a
joint venture
A joint venture (JV) is a business entity created by two or more parties, generally characterized by shared ownership, shared returns and risks, and shared governance. Companies typically pursue joint ventures for one of four reasons: to acce ...
between
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
(which owns a controlling 80% stake) and the
Hearst Communications
Hearst Communications, Inc., often referred to simply as Hearst, is an American multinational mass media and business information conglomerate based in Hearst Tower in Midtown Manhattan, New York City.
Hearst owns newspapers, magazines, televi ...
(which owns the remaining 20%). It is one of Disney's three flagship
subscription streaming brands in the United States, alongside
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...
and
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...
, and operates using technology of Disney subsidiary BAMTech, now known as
Disney Streaming Services
Disney Streaming (formerly known as BAMTech Media from 2015 to 2018, and Disney Streaming Services from 2018 to 2021) is a technology subsidiary of The Walt Disney Company located in Manhattan, New York City. It was established in 2015 as a spin ...
.
ESPN+ is marketed as an add-on to ESPN's core linear networks, with some of ESPN+'s content previously offered
exclusively to cable subscribers via
ESPN3
ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communication ...
and the
WatchESPN app. ESPN+ does not include access to these services, as they continue to only be available through television providers. Thus, some of ESPN's sports rights are not carried on ESPN+.
Featured content on ESPN+ includes
combat sports
A combat sport, or fighting sport, is a competitive contact sport that usually involves one-on-one combat. In many combat sports, a contestant wins by scoring more points than the opponent, submitting the opponent with a hold, disabling the oppon ...
(including coverage of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
and
Top Rank boxing),
college sports
College athletics encompasses non-professional, collegiate and university-level competitive sports and games.
World University Games
The first World University Games were held in 1923. There were originally called the ''Union Nationale des É ...
, hockey (including 75 exclusive
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
games per-season and all out-of-market games),
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
,
soccer (including out-of-market
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
matches),
golf
Golf is a club-and-ball sport in which players use various clubs to hit balls into a series of holes on a course in as few strokes as possible.
Golf, unlike most ball games, cannot and does not use a standardized playing area, and coping ...
(including PGA Tour Live and coverage of the
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
),
tennis
Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent ( singles) or between two teams of two players each ( doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that is strung with cord to strike a hollow rubber ball c ...
, and
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
.
Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
's
out-of-market sports package, also operated through BAMTech, is sold through the platform as an add-on. The service also features archive content, ESPN original documentaries, and access to premium content on
ESPN.com.
, ESPN+ had over 24.3 million subscribers.
History
In August 2016,
The Walt Disney Company
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment industry, entertainment conglomerate (company), conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios (Burbank), Walt Disney Stud ...
acquired a minority stake in
BAMTech, a
spin-out
A corporate spin-off, also known as a spin-out, or starburst or hive-off, is a type of corporate action where a company "splits off" a section as a separate business or creates a second incarnation, even if the first is still active.
Charact ...
of
MLB Advanced Media
MLB Advanced Media (MLBAM) is a limited partnership of the club owners of Major League Baseball (MLB) based in New York City and is the Internet and interactive branch of the league.
Robert Bowman, former president and CEO of MLBAM, indicated in ...
's streaming technology business, for $1 billion, with an option to acquire a majority stake in the future. It was also announced that Disney subsidiary
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
was planning to develop an over-the-top service based on BAMTech technology as "an exploratory OTT project", drawing primarily from
ESPN-owned rights for events not broadcast on television. ESPN already used BAMTech's platform for its
TV Everywhere service
WatchESPN. Disney CEO
Bob Iger
Robert Allen Iger (; born February 10, 1951) is an American businessman who is the Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company. He previously served as the President of American Broadcasting Company, ABC Television between 1994 an ...
remarked that despite declines in the
pay television
Pay television, also known as subscription television, premium television or, when referring to an individual service, a premium channel, refers to Subscription business model, subscription-based television services, usually provided by multichan ...
industry due to
cord-cutting, "live sports has really thrived, even in a world where there's so much more for people to do and to watch."
In August 2017, Disney invoked its option to acquire a controlling stake in BAMTech, and announced that it planned to launch its ESPN OTT service in 2018, followed by a Disney entertainment OTT service in 2019 (thus ending its relationship with
Netflix
Netflix, Inc. is an American subscription video on-demand over-the-top streaming service and production company based in Los Gatos, California. Founded in 1997 by Reed Hastings and Marc Randolph in Scotts Valley, California, it offers a ...
). At this time, Disney stated that the new ESPN service would draw from ESPN-owned sports rights, as well as
MLB,
NHL
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...
, and
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
content (although lacking major ESPN-owned rights such as the
NBA and
NFL
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the major ...
), and that an accompanying redesign of the ESPN app would make it a "premier digital destination" for sports content.
During Disney's fourth-quarter earnings call, Iger revealed that the service would be known as ESPN+. In December 2017, Disney announced its intent to
acquire 21st Century Fox
Twenty-First Century Fox, Inc., doing business as 21st Century Fox (21CF), was an American multinational mass media corporation that was based in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It was one of the two companies formed on June 28, 2013, fo ...
after the spin-off of certain businesses. The deal was to include the
Fox Sports Networks
Fox Sports Networks (FSN), formerly known as Fox Sports Net, was the collective name for a group of regional sports channels in the United States. Formed in 1996 by News Corporation, the networks were acquired by The Walt Disney Company on Mar ...
group of
regional sports networks (which Disney was ordered to divest under antitrust grounds), which led to suggestions that Disney wanted to incorporate FSN's regional sports rights into the service.
In February 2018, Iger stated that ESPN was aiming for a monthly price of $4.99.
ESPN+ and BAMTech were placed into the newly formed Disney business segment,
Disney Direct-to-Consumer and International, on March 14, 2018.
On April 2, 2018, ESPN announced that ESPN+ would officially launch on April 12, 2018, and confirmed its $4.99 per-month pricing.
On August 21, 2018,
ESPN.com's existing subscription service ESPN Insider was discontinued and folded into ESPN+, adding its premium web content (such as exclusive
beat reports, and advanced sports statistics, analytics, and
fantasy sports tools) to the service. Both services shared the same monthly price, but ESPN Insider subscribers continued to receive the complimentary subscription to ''
ESPN The Magazine
''ESPN The Magazine'' was an American monthly sports magazine published by the ESPN sports network in Bristol, Connecticut. The first issue was published on March 11, 1998. Initially published every other week, it scaled back to 24 issues a year ...
'' that was included (until its discontinuation in September 2019), and annual subscribers were grandfathered under its previous $39.99 per-year price (as opposed to $49.99 for ESPN+).
On October 31, 2018, ESPN executive Russell Wolff was named executive vice president and general manager.
In October 2019, ESPN+ began to add pre-roll advertising to on-demand content on the service. Concurrent with the launch of
Disney+
The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on October 1 ...
on November 12, 2019, the Disney Bundle was introduced, allowing users to subscribe to ESPN+, Disney+, and the ad-supported tier of
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...
for $12.99 per-month.
On October 22, 2020, it was announced that a larger amount of ESPN.com articles (primarily analysis) would become
paywalled behind ESPN+. It was also announced that video simulcasts of the
ESPN Radio
ESPN Radio, which is alternately platform-agnostically branded as ESPN Audio, is an American sports radio network and extension of the ESPN television network. It was launched on January 1, 1992, under the original banner of "SportsRadio ESPN" ...
programs ''
The Dan Le Batard Show'', ''Greeny'', ''The Max Kellerman Show'', and ''Chiney & Golic Jr.,'' as well as ''Jorge Ramos y Su Banda'', would be moved exclusively to ESPN+ from the ESPN networks.
In July 2022, Disney announced that the standalone monthly price of ESPN+, which reached $6.99 per month in 2021 following two smaller increases, would jump by three dollars, or 43%, to $9.99 per month beginning in late August. Observers speculated that the increase was intended to promote uptake of the Disney Bundle, which continued at the then current $13.99 price point, while remaining competitive relative to other standalone sports streaming services.
Programming
Its launch content included
boxing
Boxing (also known as "Western boxing" or "pugilism") is a combat sport in which two people, usually wearing protective gloves and other protective equipment such as hand wraps and mouthguards, throw punches at each other for a predetermine ...
(including
Top Rank events and archive content through 2025, and includes 36 exclusive fight cards),
college sports events (including
Ivy League
The Ivy League is an American collegiate athletic conference comprising eight private research universities in the Northeastern United States. The term ''Ivy League'' is typically used beyond the sports context to refer to the eight schoo ...
events, with the conference having reached a 10-year
media rights
Broadcasting rights (often also called media rights) are rights which a broadcasting organization negotiates with a commercial concern - such as a sports governing body or film distributor - in order to show that company's products on television ...
deal with ESPN prior to the service's launch), coverage of
Tennis Grand Slams, as well as international
cricket
Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by st ...
(
India national cricket team
The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the Internation ...
,
Cricket Ireland
Cricket Ireland, officially the Irish Cricket Union, is the national governing body for cricket on the island of Ireland (both the Republic of Ireland and Northern Ireland), and oversees the national men's and women's cricket teams. It also org ...
, and
New Zealand Cricket
New Zealand Cricket, formerly the New Zealand Cricket Council, is the governing body for professional cricket in New Zealand. Cricket is the most popular and highest profile summer sport in New Zealand.
New Zealand Cricket operates the New Z ...
), soccer (including
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
, the
United Soccer League
United Soccer League (USL), formerly known as United Soccer Leagues, is a soccer league in the United States and Canada. It organizes several men's and women's leagues, both professional and amateur. Men's leagues currently organized are the ...
, the
U.S. Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
,
2019 Copa America
Nineteen or 19 may refer to:
* 19 (number), the natural number following 18 and preceding 20
* one of the years 19 BC, AD 19, 1919, 2019
Films
* ''19'' (film), a 2001 Japanese film
* ''Nineteen'' (film), a 1987 science fiction film
Music ...
, the
English Football League
The English Football League (EFL) is a league of professional football clubs from England and Wales. Founded in 1888 as the Football League, the league is the oldest such competition in the world. It was the top-level football league in Engl ...
(including
Cup
A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, c ...
),
Serie A
The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Copp ...
,
Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...
,
A-League
A-League Men (known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons) is the highest-level professional men's soccer league in Australia and New Zealand. At the top of the Australian league system, it is the country's premier men's competit ...
,
FFA Cup
The Australia Cup, formerly known as the FFA Cup until the 2021 season, is the national football knockout cup competition in Australia. This annual competition is organised by Football Australia, formerly known as Football Federation Austr ...
,
W-League,
FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
, and
UEFA Nations League
The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body.
The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...
)
and
rugby union
Rugby union, commonly known simply as rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that originated at Rugby School in the first half of the 19th century. One of the Comparison of rugby league and rugby union, two codes of ru ...
events (including
SANZAAR tournaments,
Bledisloe Cup,
Currie Cup
The Currie Cup is South Africa's premier domestic rugby union competition, played each winter and spring (June to October), featuring teams representing either entire provinces or substantial regions within provinces. Although it is the premier ...
,
Major League Rugby
Major League Rugby (MLR or USMLR) is a professional rugby union competition and the top-level championship for clubs in North America. In the 2022 season it was contested by thirteen teams: twelve from the United States and one from Canada. Of ...
,
Mitre 10 Cup
The mitre (Commonwealth English) (; Greek: μίτρα, "headband" or "turban") or miter (American English; see spelling differences), is a type of headgear now known as the traditional, ceremonial headdress of bishops and certain abbots in ...
, and
Pro14
The United Rugby Championship (URC) is an annual rugby union competition involving professional teams from Ireland, Italy, Scotland, South Africa, and Wales. The current name was adopted in 2021 when the league expanded to include four South Afr ...
).
In October 2018, ESPN+ obtained the rights for the Swedish
Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...
and the
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga ( da, Superligaen, ) is the current Danish football championship tournament, and administered by the Danish Football Association. It is the highest football league in Denmark and is currently contested by 12 teams each y ...
as well, declaring their intent to broadcast one match per week for each league. In February 2021, ESPN+ obtained the rights for the
Belgian Pro League, and are expected to broadcast 3 matches per week.
ESPN+ features
out of market Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
matches at no additional charge for subscribers (replacing the previous MLS Live service), and the service held exclusive rights to all regionally televised
Chicago Fire matches through 2020 (as the second MLS team, behind
Los Angeles FC's deal with
YouTube TV
YouTube TV is an American streaming television service operated by YouTube, a wholly owned subsidiary of Google. Announced on February 28, 2017, the virtual multichannel video programming distributor offers a selection of live linear channel ...
, to sell its regional rights to a streaming service). As of the
2021–22 season, ESPN+ carries out-of-market
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
games under the ''NHL Power Play on ESPN+'' banner (replacing the previous NHL.tv service).
MLB.tv is also available for purchase within the ESPN+ platform, and offers daily games during their regular seasons.
PGA Tour Live (which was also ran by BAMTech) was included for the
2018 PGA Tour season, but moved to
NBC Sports Gold in 2019. ESPN+ will offer supplemental feeds during the
PGA Championship
The PGA Championship (often referred to as the US PGA Championship or USPGA outside the United States) is an annual golf tournament conducted by the Professional Golfers' Association of America. It is one of the four men's major championships ...
beginning 2020, including during
CBS broadcast windows. In 2022, PGA Tour Live returned to ESPN+ as part of a new long-term deal through 2030.
In March 2019, the
American Athletic Conference
The American Athletic Conference (The American or AAC) is an American collegiate athletic conference, featuring 11 member universities and five affiliate member universities that compete in the National Collegiate Athletic Association's (NCAA ...
announced a 12-year media rights deal with ESPN, under which ESPN+ will carry the majority of events not aired by ESPN's linear channels. In May 2019, it was announced that ESPN+ would carry 18
World TeamTennis matches. In September 2019, ESPN+ announced its acquisition of rights to Germany's
Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...
soccer league beginning in 2020, under a six-year deal.
In the 2019–20 season, ESPN+ acquired the third-tier media rights for all but two
Big 12 Conference
The Big 12 Conference is a college athletic conference headquartered in Irving, Texas, USA. It consists of ten full-member universities. It is a member of Division I of the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA) for all sports. Its f ...
teams; these telecasts are carried under the branding ''Big 12 Now''. The deal excluded the Oklahoma Sooners–whose third-tier rights were held by the SoonerSports.tv streaming service and
Bally Sports Oklahoma, and the Texas Longhorns–who have an existing agreement with ESPN and
IMG College
LEARFIELD, formerly Learfield IMG College, is a large collegiate sports marketing company, representing more than 200 of the nation's top collegiate properties including the NCAA and its 89 championships, NCAA Football, leading conferences, and ...
to run
Longhorn Network
Longhorn Network (LHN) is an American regional sports network owned as a joint venture between The University of Texas at Austin, ESPN and Learfield (formerly IMG College), and is operated by ESPN (itself owned jointly by The Walt Disney Compa ...
.
During the
2020 Major League Baseball season's
Wild Card Series round, ESPN+ aired ''Squeeze Play''—which featured live look-ins and analysis of the seven series ESPN held rights to (in a similar manner to the ''
ESPN Bases Loaded'' service it offered during the
NCAA baseball tournament
The NCAA Division I Baseball Championship is held each year from May through June and features 64 college baseball teams in the United States, culminating in the eight-team Men's College World Series at Charles Schwab Field Omaha in Omaha, Nebr ...
), as well as
Statcast broadcasts of selected games.
On March 10, 2021,
ESPN
ESPN (originally an initialism for Entertainment and Sports Programming Network) is an American international basic cable sports channel owned by ESPN Inc., owned jointly by The Walt Disney Company (80%) and Hearst Communications (20%). The ...
re-acquired rights to the
National Hockey League
The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey sports league, league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranke ...
under a new seven-year deal beginning in the
2021–22 season. Under this contract, ESPN+ holds exclusive rights to 75 games per-season, which will also be available on
Hulu
Hulu () is an American subscription streaming service majority-owned by The Walt Disney Company, with Comcast's NBCUniversal holding a minority stake. It was launched on October 29, 2007 and it offers a library of films and television seri ...
, simulcast rights to all games on
ABC (including the
NHL All-Star Game
The National Hockey League All-Star Game (french: Match des Étoiles de la Ligue Nationale de Hockey, links=no) is an exhibition ice hockey game that is traditionally held during the regular season of the National Hockey League (NHL), with many o ...
, and the
Stanley Cup Finals
The Stanley Cup Finals in ice hockey (also known as the Stanley Cup Final among various media, french: Finale de la Coupe Stanley) is the National Hockey League's (NHL) championship series to determine the winner of the Stanley Cup, North America ...
in selected seasons), and streams all out-of-market games.
A week later, as part of ESPN's renewal of its rights to the NFL, ESPN+ gained simulcast rights to ''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'' broadcasts beginning in the
2021 NFL season
The 2021 NFL season was the 102nd season of the National Football League (NFL). The season was the first to feature a 17-game regular season schedule as the league expanded the season from 16 games. The regular season started on September 9, ...
. Beginning in 2022, ESPN+ will hold exclusive rights to one
NFL International Series
The NFL International Series is a series of American football games during the National Football League (NFL) regular season that are played outside the United States. Since 2017, the series has two sub-series: the NFL London Games in the Uni ...
game per-season in a Sunday morning window.
In September 2021, Disney began to wind down the U.S. version of
Hotstar, a streaming service targeting
Indian Americans, and migrated its content exclusively to ESPN+ and Hulu. This, in particular, includes its rights to home matches of the
India national cricket team
The India men's national cricket team, also known as Team India or the Men in Blue, represents India in men's international cricket. It is governed by the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI), and is a Full Member of the Internation ...
and
Indian Premier League
The Indian Premier League (IPL), also known as Tata Group, TATA IPL for sponsorship reasons, is a men's T20 cricket, T20 Professional sports league organization, franchise cricket Sports league, league of India. It is annually contested by ...
, which had been sub-licensed to ESPN+ via its sister network
Star Sports.
On April 8, 2022, ESPN announced a deal with the
Savannah Bananas
The Savannah Bananas are an exhibition baseball team based in Savannah, Georgia. The team was founded in 2016 and has played at Grayson Stadium since its inaugural season. Until 2022, the Bananas competed as a collegiate summer baseball team in ...
to live stream two games of their Banana Ball World Tour on April 8 and 9.
In May 2022, ESPN announced its acquisition of the third-tier media rights to
Oklahoma Sooners
The Oklahoma Sooners are the athletic teams that represent the University of Oklahoma, located in Norman. The 19 men's and women's varsity teams are called the " Sooners", a reference to a nickname given to the early participants in the Land R ...
athletics; the events will be carried on ESPN+ under the "SoonerVision on ESPN+" branding, and will include one exclusive football game per-season (which had previously been distributed by
Bally/Fox Sports pay-per-view). The deal will be in effect through the 2024–25 athletics season, after which the Sooners will exit the Big 12 and move to the
Southeastern Conference
The Southeastern Conference (SEC) is an American college athletic conference whose member institutions are located primarily in the South Central and Southeastern United States. Its fourteen members include the flagship public universities o ...
(SEC)—whose media rights are fully-owned by ESPN. Later that month, ESPN announced a rights agreement with the
Northwoods League to stream select games of their 2022 season each day exclusively on ESPN+, along with the Northwoods League All-Star Game, the Major League Dreams Showcase, the League playoffs and Summer Collegiate World Series.
UFC
In May 2018, the
Ultimate Fighting Championship
The Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) is an American mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion company based in Las Vegas, Nevada. It is owned and operated by Zuffa, a wholly owned subsidiary of Endeavor Group Holdings. It is the largest MMA ...
(UFC) announced new five-year digital and linear television rights deals with ESPN, effective January 2019. 20 ''UFC on ESPN+ Fight Night'' cards per-year are streamed exclusively by the service, as well as preliminaries for 10 ''UFC on ESPN Fight Night'' cards per-year. ESPN+ will also hold rights to supplemental content such as ''
Dana White's Contender Series'', archive content and PPV encores, and offer sales of
UFC Fight Pass within the platform.
The first ESPN+ event,
UFC Fight Night: Cejudo vs. Dillashaw, generated 525,000 new subscribers on the day of the event alone.
On March 18, 2019, it was announced that ESPN had reached a two-year extension of its contract with the UFC. Beginning with
UFC 236, ESPN+ became the exclusive U.S. distributor of all UFC pay-per-view events for residential customers; they are no longer sold through television providers, and viewers must have an ESPN+ subscription in order to buy them.
Sports rights
ESPN+ initially focused on overflow content, similar to that of
ESPN3
ESPN3 (formerly ESPN360 and ESPN3.com) is an online streaming service owned by ESPN Inc., a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (which operates the network, through its 80% controlling ownership interest) and Hearst Communication ...
(which is distributed to subscribers of participating internet and television subscribers). Some of ESPN3's content has since moved to ESPN+. It has since been incorporated more extensively into ESPN's later media rights deals.
Professional sports
Cricket
* National teams
**
India national cricket team (BCCI) (Hindi and English rights, sublicensed from
Star Sports, a sister network owned by Disney's Indian subsidiary
Disney Star)
**
West Indies national cricket team
**
New Zealand national cricket team
The New Zealand national cricket team represents New Zealand in men's international cricket. Named the Black Caps, they played their first Test in 1930 against England in Christchurch, becoming the fifth country to play Test cricket. From 1930 ...
(home match rights until 2026)
** ICC events (including the
2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup
The 2021 ICC Men's T20 World Cup was the seventh ICC Men's T20 World Cup tournament, with the matches played in the United Arab Emirates and Oman from 17 October to 14 November 2021. The West Indies were the defending champions, but were eventu ...
and
2022 Women's Cricket World Cup)
* T20 leagues
**
New Zealand's Super Smash
Association football
United States
*
Major League Soccer
Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Cana ...
(Out of market games)
*
USL Championship
The USL Championship (USLC) is a professional men's soccer league in the United States that began its inaugural season in 2011. The USL is sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation (U.S. Soccer) as a Division II league since 2017, p ...
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USL League One
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U.S. Open Cup
The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...
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College soccer
College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and Philippines, the Philippines. Th ...
Mexico
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Liga MX
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Liga MX Femenil
Europe
Spain
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La Liga
The Campeonato Nacional de Liga de Primera División, commonly known simply as Primera División in Spain, and as La Liga in English-speaking countries and officially as LaLiga Santander for sponsorship reasons, stylized as LaLiga, is the men' ...
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Segunda División
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Copa del Rey
The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...
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Supercopa de España
The Supercopa de España or the ''Spanish Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Spanish football. Founded in 1982 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2019–20 by four teams: the winners and runners-up of ...
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Copa De La Renia
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Supercopa de España Femenina
The Supercopa de España Femenina or the ''Spanish Women's Super Cup'' is a super cup tournament in Football in Spain, Spanish football, contested by the winners and runners up of the Copa de la Reina de Fútbol, Copa de la Reina and the remaining ...
England
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EFL Championship
The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...
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EFL League One
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EFL League Two
The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football L ...
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FA Cup
The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competit ...
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EFL Cup
The EFL Cup (referred to historically, and colloquially, as the League Cup), currently known as the Carabao Cup for sponsorship reasons, is an annual knockout competition and major trophy in men's domestic football in England. Organised by th ...
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FA Community Shield
The Football Association Community Shield (formerly the Charity Shield) is English football's annual match contested at Wembley Stadium between the champions of the previous Premier League season and the holders of the FA Cup. If the Premier L ...
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Women's FA Cup
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Women's FA Community Shield
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EFL Trophy
The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL ...
Germany
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Bundesliga
The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footbal ...
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2.Bundesliga
The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...
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DFB-Pokal
The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considere ...
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DFL-Supercup
Netherlands
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Eredivisie
The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is ...
Sweden
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Allsvenskan
Allsvenskan (; en, the All-Swedish, also known as Fotbollsallsvenskan, en, the Football All-Swedish) is a Swedish professional league for men's association football clubs. It was founded in 1924 and is the top tier of the Swedish football le ...
Belgium
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Belgian First Division A
The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 tea ...
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Belgian Cup
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Belgian Super Cup
Auto racing
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Formula One
Formula One (also known as Formula 1 or F1) is the highest class of international racing for open-wheel single-seater formula racing cars sanctioned by the Fédération Internationale de l'Automobile (FIA). The World Drivers' Championship ...
Baseball
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Major League Baseball
Major League Baseball (MLB) is a professional baseball organization and the oldest major professional sports league in the world. MLB is composed of 30 total teams, divided equally between the National League (NL) and the American League (AL) ...
Football
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National Football League
The National Football League (NFL) is a professional American football league that consists of 32 teams, divided equally between the American Football Conference (AFC) and the National Football Conference (NFC). The NFL is one of the ma ...
** Simulcasts select ''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, A ...
'' games.
** One exclusive