ESPN this week unveiled details of the upcoming direct-to-consumer subscription service known as ESPN+, which will serve as the exclusive home of locally broadcast Chicago Fire matches in English and Spanish through the 2020 season.
The service will launch on Thursday, April 12 and offer fans a dynamic lineup of live sports, original content and an unmatched library of award-winning on-demand programming – all for a subscription price of $4.99 per month.
ESPN+ will be available as an integrated part of a completely redesigned ESPN App on mobile and OTT devices including iOS, Apple TV, Android, tvOS and Chromecast with additional platforms to be announced at a later date. It will also be available on the Web through ESPN.com. ESPN+ is separate from, and does not require, a cable package.
LIVE SOCCER MATCHES ON ESPN+
Soccer fans in particular will benefit from the new platform's vast portfolio of live matches. In addition to 24 Chicago Fire matches in 2018, ESPN+ soccer coverage also includes more than 250 out-of-market MLS games via MLS LIVE, approximately 400 games from the United Soccer League (USL), more than 100 matches in the the newly created UEFA Nations League (UNL), and an estimated 200 English Football League (EFL) matches.
Click Here for more details on planned soccer coverage on ESPN+.
BEYOND SOCCER
An ESPN+ subscription provides fans with substantial value beyond the world of soccer. Monday's announcement outlines the wide range of live sports programming to be featured on the platform at launch, which includes:
- MLB – More than 180 games; game of the day throughout regular season
- NHL – More than 180 games; game of the day throughout regular season
- COLLEGE SPORTS – Thousands of games and events, multiple sports, across nearly two dozen conferences
- SPRING SPORTS
- College Baseball and Softball
- Lacrosse, Tennis and Track & Field
- FALL SPORTS
- College Football
- Men's and Women's Soccer, Volleyball and Field Hockey
- WINTER SPORTS
- College Basketball
- College Wrestling, Ice Hockey, Gymnastics, Swimming & Diving
- SPRING SPORTS
- BOXING: Year-Round Schedule
- PGA TOUR LIVE GOLF: 50 days of coverage from 20 PGA Tour events
- GRAND SLAM TENNIS: Hundreds of tennis matches from Wimbledon, U.S. Open and Australian Open Rugby and Cricket: Hundreds of international matches
THE NEW ESPN APP: THE PREMIER, ALL-IN-ONE DIGITAL SPORTS PLATFORM
The ESPN App is already the number one sports app. With its relaunched and re-imagined version, it will become the premier digital sports platform for fans, giving them a rich, increasingly personalized one-stop digital destination on mobile and digital living room platforms for all that ESPN offers, including:
- SCORES, NEWS, HIGHLIGHTS: The sports scores, news, video highlights and clips, features and analysis that fans turn to every day
- “TV EVERYWHERE” VIDEO: Authenticated live streaming of ESPN’s eight U.S. networks — ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, ESPNU, ESPNEWS, ESPN Deportes, SEC Network, Longhorn Network – as well as popular on-demand programs, accessed anywhere via the user’s pay TV subscription
- ESPN+: Direct-to-consumer subscription streaming access to thousands of additional live sporting events, original content and shows, and on-demand video library
- ESPN AUDIO – LIVE AND ON DEMAND: The leading library of sports audio content, including live ESPN Radio streaming and a lineup of top sports podcasts.
