Starting this week, during the 2024 college football season, some key non-conference football games as well as matchups between small college and mid-major football teams will be streamed live on ESPN Plus, ESPN’s direct-to-consumer, low-cost live sports streaming service. Now, you may have questions about what this service is, which TV channel it’s on, how much it costs, and what an ESPN+ subscription includes.

• Watch college football now on ESPN+

What is ESPN Plus? Is it a TV channel?

ESPN Plus is a live sports streaming service from ESPN, but it is not available through your local cable provider. ESPN Plus is NOT a television channel and is not available in cable and satellite packages from companies like Comcast/Xfinity, Verizon, Frontier, and DirecTV. ESPN Plus is not included in these services because the service is a direct-to-consumer platform, which helps keep costs low and available to everyone regardless of their location.

Whether you’re a football fan looking to supplement your current local and national sports offerings on cable, or you’re just a casual fan looking to catch that one can’t-miss game or event, ESPN+ has a lot to offer at a very reasonable price.

How much does ESPN Plus cost per month? What does it cost?

Starting with the 2024 season, ESPN Plus will cost just $10.99 per month (you can cancel at any time, so if you only want to sign up for one game or event, you’ll only be charged for one month). You can also get the service at a small discount if you buy an annual subscription for $109.99. So for under $11, you can try it out for a month and see if you like it, or just wait until the platform has something you want to watch and then try it out.

• Try it out: Get access and watch ESPN+ now for under $11

How do I get ESPN Plus for free?

Unfortunately, there is no way to get ESPN Plus for free, and there is currently no free trial offered. However, there are sometimes special offers from some phone or internet providers to entice customers to subscribe to those companies. For example, providers like Verizon or AT&T have had deals before to entice new customers to switch. ESPN+ is not currently included with Amazon Prime, but you can save money on ESPN+ if you get a Disney bundle deal that includes access to Hulu, Disney+, and ESPN+ for under $15/month. This is a fantastic deal if you have a family and already pay separately for Disney Plus or Hulu. If you have separate accounts for these services within your family and want to merge them, you can call Disney directly (800-727-1800) and customer service will find a way to merge the accounts for you. I did this myself and it was a breeze.

Which games and teams can be seen on ESPN+ this season?

While ESPN+ won’t carry every major nationally televised game, it will offer a huge selection of college football games to watch Thursday through Saturday every week during the 2024 college football season. ESPN Plus will essentially carry any games that aren’t big enough or on ESPN’s major network’s list for live TV coverage. For example, this season there are plenty of out-of-conference games featuring SEC and Big 12 teams like Auburn, Georgia, Kansas, Kentucky, and others. If you’re a fan of a smaller team, the service will also feature programs like Harvard, Yale, and other Ivy League universities each week.

ESPN Plus also owns the media rights to broadcast several other mid-major college football leagues and teams. This includes teams from leagues like America East, MEAC, Atlantic 10, Patriot League, Conference USA, Sun Belt, SWAC, MAC, and many more. If your team is in the mid-major leagues, there’s a good chance ESPN+ will broadcast their games. Here’s a look at the ESPN+ college football broadcast schedule for Week 1 as an example of the type of teams you’ll see each week.

• schedule: These college football games will be broadcast on ESPN+ in Week 1

While ESPN Plus does give you access to a wide selection of live games from professional and college sports, this service does not give you access to live sports and programs broadcast live on ESPN, ESPN2 and ESPNU, ESPN Classic and ESPN News. To watch these channels, you will still need a subscription to cable, satellite or a live TV streaming service provider. In this case, you should consider live TV streaming services like Fubo or DirecTV Stream or the cheapest option, Sling (there is a special deal currently running, the first month is just $15 depending on the package you choose).

What is included in ESPN Plus? What sports are offered?

ESPN Plus is great if you like watching a lot of live college sports, including smaller events like volleyball, gymnastics, basketball, soccer, and more. But that’s not all they offer. What makes ESPN Plus so worth the affordable price is that they offer so much more. ESPN Plus offers weekly UFC and other mixed martial arts events, as well as a variety of professional soccer offerings, including Italian Serie A games, German Bundesliga games, English FA Cup games, and other tournament games, as well as regular live streaming of Major League Soccer and Major League Baseball games, NHL hockey, and more. ESPN Plus is essentially an on-demand sports streaming service, broadcasting live games and events from virtually anything ESPN can’t fit on its regular channels due to scheduling conflicts. ESPN Plus also has a growing list of original shows and programs that run exclusively on the ESPN+ platform, such as documentaries, athlete profiles, original shows, and more.

With an ESPN+ subscription, you also get free access to ESPN Insider on the ESPN website, which includes exclusive content and stories you wouldn’t get without this account.

How do I get ESPN Plus on my TV?

ESPN Plus is not a TV channel, so you’ll need to access it through the ESPN app. If you have a smart TV that’s plugged into Wi-Fi or connected to the internet via an Ethernet cable, you should be able to download the ESPN app without any problems. If you don’t have a smart TV but do have a streaming device, you can get ESPN Plus by adding the app to one of the following streaming devices you currently use to watch TV and movies:

• AppleTV
• Roku
• Amazon Fire TV
• AndroidTV
• Xbox One or Xbox Series X
• Playstation 4 or 5

You can also watch ESPN Plus via the app on your desktop computer or through your internet browser at plus.espn.com.

Conclusion: Is ESPN Plus worth the money?

What makes ESPN Plus so appealing to cable customers and cable-defenders alike is the ease with which a customer can customize the service to their needs. For example, if you’re a college football fan who never gets tired of watching the game, you’ll have tons of ways to watch the game on college football Saturdays through the fall, and you can cancel the service without penalty after the season ends. On the other hand, if you’re a football fan who just wants to watch a specific game that your local provider doesn’t offer, ESPN Plus often has plenty of high-profile games. If the game is available through the service, you can sign up for a month to watch the game for under $11, and continue to have access to the platform for the rest of the month until your login expires. Either way, you only had to pay about $10 to watch your team play, rather than going through all the hassle of finding a pirated live stream on a shady website full of annoying pop-up ads.