Cord-cutters turn to video streaming services for many reasons, including sports. If you want to watch the occasional MLB or NHL game, soccer matchups, or lots of college action, ESPN Select (formerly ESPN+) is for you. The streaming service delivers a respectable lineup of live and on-demand sports, as well as the top-notch 30 for 30 and E:60 productions. However, the service lacks flagship ESPN shows, such as The Pat McAfee Show and SportsCenter, as well as live NBA and NFL broadcasts. Still, despite its steadily increasing price over the years, ESPN Select's relatively low cost (either as a standalone service or part of a bundle) might be enough to encourage you to add it to your streaming lineup.
Plans and Prices
If you were already subscribed to ESPN+, you are now automatically subscribed to ESPN Select, which includes everything ESPN+ offered. It has many original ESPN Select shows and certain programs from the cable giant (more on that later). On its own, ESPN Select costs $12.99 per month (or $129.99 per year). However, you can also purchase it in a bundle with ad-supported Disney+ and Hulu for $19.99 per month. If you prefer not to watch ads, a commercial-free bundle is available for $29.99 per month. Like Disney+ and Netflix, ESPN Select no longer has a free trial.
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ESPN offers another, more comprehensive premium streaming service: ESPN Unlimited. It significantly expands the library by granting streaming access to all ESPN cable channels, addressing a major limitation of ESPN Select. If you have cable or certain live TV streaming services, you can stream ESPN Unlimited without additional cost. If you don't have one of those options, ESPN Unlimited costs $29.99 per month (or $299.99 per year), more than twice the price of ESPN Select.
Still, both plans have lower prices than several other live streaming services. Fubo costs $84.99 per month. Hulu + Live TV charges $89.99 per month. YouTube TV is $82.99 per month. Sling TV's Orange and Blue plans cost $46 and $51 per month, respectively (or $66 per month as a bundle). Paramount+'s ad-free tier costs $12.99 per month, and Peacock's Premium tier starts at $7.99 per month, but they don't have as robust sports libraries.
Aside from watching ESPN Select on the web, you can download apps for mobile platforms (Android and iOS), media streaming devices (Apple TV, Chromecast, Fire TV, and Roku), and gaming devices (PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X/S, and Xbox One).
What Can You Watch on ESPN Select?
The first thing to understand about ESPN Select is that it is not the same as the regular ESPN channel on cable or the channel that live TV streaming services, such as Hulu + Live TV or Sling TV, offer. ESPN Select complements the main channel, but lacks its core programming.
ESPN Select's programs are divided into three main content areas: live sports, ESPN+ originals (it still uses the old branding), and ESPN shows. Of the major national sports leagues in the US, ESPN Select streams live, out-of-market MLB and NHL games, as well as full replays of many of those matchups. You can also watch live NBA G League games or college football matchups airing on ABC or the ESPN cable network.
However, you must turn to a different sports streaming service to watch other national games*,* including ESPN's Monday Night Football. Fans should check out our dedicated roundups for the best MLB, NBA, and NFL streaming services for more information on streaming those leagues.
(Credit: ESPN/PCMag)
As for other sports, ESPN Select includes PGA Tour coverage, but not complete tournament broadcasts. Instead, it shows featured holes for the last two days of an event. ESPN Select also streams international sports, including cricket and rugby. However, global soccer fans now require Apple TV to stream MLS matches. If you're hyped for the World Cup, check out No Cable? Here's How to Stream the FIFA World Cup.
One area where ESPN Select excels is in its coverage of men's and women's NCAA sports, including basketball, baseball, field hockey, football, ice hockey, lacrosse, soccer, softball, swimming and diving, track and field, volleyball, and wrestling. However, ESPN Select's coverage of combat sports has diminished. PFL is locked to ESPN Unlimited, and the UFC has shifted to Paramount+. Dazn is a good option for MMA and boxing fans, as it streams events from Bellator, Combate Americas, GGG Promotions, Golden Boy Promotions, Matchroom Boxing, and other promotions. Netflix also streams Jake Paul's attention-grabbing boxing events.
ESPN produces in-house series exclusively for the platform. These shows include Detail, a franchise that features in-depth analysis from top competitors across different sports; ESPN FC, a daily soccer show; In the Crease, which provides daily hockey analysis and highlights*; and Peyton's Places,* a multipart documentary starring Peyton Manning*.* The service offers the entire archive of ESPN's 30 for 30, E:60, Greeny, SC Featured, and SportsNation.
Based on its offerings, ESPN Select is more comparable to a single-network service, such as Paramount+, than to live TV streaming services like Fubo or YouTube TV. Similar to ESPN Select, Paramount+ grants access to live CBS coverage (including both sports and news broadcasts), original series (such as Star Trek: Discovery and The Good Fight), and on-demand shows from ViacomCBS's vast archives (including The Twilight Zone and all the original Star Trek series). NBC's Peacock is also emerging as a potential competitor to ESPN Select. Peacock's paid tiers include Premier League, IndyCar, and select NFL playoff games.
(Credit: ESPN/PCMag)
ESPN Select on the Web
To sign up for an ESPN Select subscription, you must provide an email address and create a password. To access ESPN Select via the web, visit the watch tab on the ESPN homepage or go directly to espn.com/watch or plus.espn.com. You can also manage your subscription from the web.
You navigate the ESPN Select page via a top menu bar with the following sections: Featured, Originals, Browse, Schedules & Replays, and Articles. The Features section highlights some of the leading live and upcoming events airing on the service, along with notable on-demand shows and ESPN+ originals. The Originals section highlights exclusive programs. In the Browse section, you can filter the catalog by sport, league, conference, or show.
Not everything in the Browse section is available on ESPN Select. Some shows and live events require you to authenticate with your cable or video streaming service account. A golden badge in the upper left corner of each show's thumbnail identifies items available on ESPN Select (these also still use ESPN+ branding).
The Schedules and Replays tab works fine. You can view live, upcoming, and past events and filter by sport and ESPN channel. We wish ESPN Select provided a way to add an event to a watchlist, but the service lacks that feature. One perk of an ESPN Select subscription is access to exclusive articles featuring in-depth sports analysis. Some movie streaming services, such as Filmatique and Mubi, also provide editorial content as part of their subscriptions.
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A show's details page includes the length, year, director, and a brief description. You can't leave a review or rating on any on-demand content. ESPN Select also lists titles you may enjoy, and the AI-powered SportsCenter feature provides daily personalized highlights.
(Credit: ESPN/PCMag)
ESPN Select on Mobile
ESPN Select is available within ESPN's mobile app, also known as ESPN. We had no trouble downloading the app and logging in on an Android phone. The interface is attractive, with a black background, white text, and yellow highlights. The app is quick to navigate and didn't crash during testing. You must enable your location before you can watch anything, however.
The section is organized into two tabs: Stream and Articles. The Stream tab functions identically to the Featured section in the web interface. There, you can browse through live sports events and on-demand shows. The Articles tab serves as an interface for reading the exclusive articles included with your subscription.
In the upper-right corner, you'll find a search bar and icons for your downloaded content, the sports schedule, and settings. You can search by team, leagues, and events. The Downloads section organizes your offline titles and lets you browse the shows eligible for offline mobile viewing. Not all features or episodes of a series can be downloaded; you will see a download icon if they are available. The ability to download titles from ESPN Select is greatly appreciated. For reference, a 20-minute episode took less than two minutes to download.
The Settings section lets you set autoplay preferences, restrict downloads to Wi-Fi connections, and choose a download quality (HD or SD). Closed captions options depend on your device's built-in settings. You must head to the ESPN website to make changes to your subscription.
(Credit: ESPN/PCMag)
ESPN Select Playback Experience
ESPN Select's playback interface on the web works fine. Aside from the standard playback and volume controls, you get 10-second rewind and fast-forward buttons, a go-to-live button, and a toggle for the closed captions. You can customize the captions directly from the playback screen, an accessibility option we like to see. ESPN lets you scrub to the beginning of an event, no matter when you tune in. The mobile interface looks identical. One advantage of the mobile app is that, on select sporting events, you can view a scorecard of the event below the minimized playback screen.
ESPN Select supports up to three simultaneous streams per account, which is about average for streaming services. Previously, it supported five concurrent streams, so this is a downgrade. Hulu + Live TV and Fubo offer add-ons to expand their support beyond their default of two concurrent streams. ESPN also supports multiview, so you can watch up to four games simultaneously on a single screen. It's a terrific addition during playoff season.
We couldn't confirm the exact streaming resolution and frame rate of ESPN's live streams, but playback appeared to reach 1080p and 60fps. Both Hulu + Live TV and YouTube TV support 1080p/60fps live streams for select channels on some platforms, as does Paramount+ for some of its local CBS station streams.
DirecTV and Fubo let you start streams from the beginning and replay past events (usually within a three-day limit). ESPN Select enables you to do both of these things, but it's sometimes unclear which replays of live events are available.
However, ESPN Select lacks DVR capabilities, which is a big deal for a sports streaming service. YouTube TV lets you record unlimited content and keep those recordings for nine months. Sling TV provides 50 hours of DVR storage for the duration of your active subscription. Hulu + Live TV offers unlimited DVR storage (and has a cool option to skip ads within those recordings).
To test ESPN Select's streaming performance, we watched a live NCAA Men's matchup between the Fort Wayne Ants and Long Island Nets over a home Ethernet connection (200Mbps download). The video didn't buffer, and the audio sounded clear. We streamed an episode of Peyton's Places without issues over a mobile device's Wi-Fi connection.
Accessibility and Parental Controls
ESPN Select included closed captions on every live and on-demand program we watched. You can customize the background and foreground, as well as the window's colors and opacity. You can also adjust the font size and type.
The service lacks parental controls, which is to be expected given the nature of its content. None of the service's shows even lists parental ratings. Most on-demand video streaming services, including Disney+ and HBO Max, let parents restrict individual profiles from viewing content above a specific parental rating. Sling TV is the rare live TV streaming service that offers parental control tools.
Can You Watch ESPN Select With a VPN?
A VPN can help you protect your privacy online and spoof your location. Many video streaming services attempt to block VPN traffic in order to enforce regional streaming restrictions. ESPN Select, for its part, is not available outside the US, so it would have a reason to prevent you from streaming over a VPN connection.
During testing, we connected a desktop and mobile device to US-based Mullvad VPN servers, and ESPN blocked access on both platforms. Even if your VPN and video streaming service work together without issues, they may not do so in the future. We recommend choosing a VPN based on other factors, such as its value, privacy stances, and security features.