How much does an espn subscription cost

On August 23, the price of ESPN+ will jump from $6.99 to $9.99 per month, and the annual plan is going up from $69.99 to $99.99. The steep 43% increase is the second subscription price hike in a little more than a year.

The company confirmed the news to TechCrunch and said that subscribers will be notified in an official email next week.

The “Disney Bundle,” which encompasses ESPN+, Disney+ and Hulu, will not see a price increase. Subscribers with the bundle pay $13.99 per month for Hulu with ads or $19.99 without ads.

Also, the price tag for the UFC pay-per-view events, which are exclusive to ESPN+ subscribers, will remain the same. UFC raised the rates for these events in January 2021.

Given the recent introduction of many live events on the Disney-backed sports streaming service due to new contracts with the National Hockey League (NHL) and PGA Tour, among others, ESPN+’s rate increase could give the company new revenue to offset the costs. In total, ESPN+ offers over 22,000 live events.

It was only a matter of time before the expensive investment in live sports rights would be passed on to consumers.

“The change reflects the significantly increased scope, scale and value of ESPN+ as we continue to add significantly to both live sports and original programs and series, and it is part of an established plan to ensure ESPN+ is a profitable and strong long-term business,” the company told TechCrunch.

In January, the sports streamer became the home of PGA Tour Live. Initially, PGA Tour Live, the golf package provided by the Professional Golfers’ Association, was priced at $9.99 per month. It is now a part of the ESPN+ subscription and the streaming service expanded its coverage hours by three times, Disney said.

Last year, ESPN+ added over 75 exclusive NHL games that don’t air on linear TV, along with the entire NHL out-of-market package of over 1,000 games. Formerly known as NHL.TV, the package used to cost $24.99 per month.

The streaming service also added expanded National Football League (NFL) rights, LaLiga, Premier Lacrosse League, National Lacrosse League, college sports such as SEC (Southeastern Conference) and Big 12, as well as expanded rights to Wimbledon and the Australian Open. The company also renewed rights for the FA (Football Association Challenge) Cup and Major League Baseball. ESPN+ will stream its first exclusive NFL game later this year.

ESPN+ also carries MLS Live, Major League Soccer’s out-of-market package. However, this will no longer be the case as Apple announced a deal to broadcast all MLS games for 10 years beginning in 2023. The content makes up a significant portion of ESPN+’s summer offerings and will be a substantial blow to the streaming service. It is important to note that linear ESPN could maintain some portion of the traditional MLS broadcast rights.

Apple signs 10-year streaming deal with Major League Soccer

In July 2021, ESPN+ announced a price hike, raising the monthly price from $5.99 to $6.99.

ESPN+ has always been considerably cheaper than its sports streaming competitors. Rival DAZN, known for its boxing content, charges $19.99 monthly. A new streaming offering from regional sports cable network NESN (New England Sports Network) costs $29.99 monthly for Boston Red Sox and Boston Bruins games. Sinclair’s Bally Sports app is $19.99 a month, or $189.99 a year.

For its second fiscal quarter of 2022, Disney reported that ESPN+ had added one million subscribers, growing its subscriber base to 22.3 million, up 62% year over year.

If you like watching sports, ESPN Plus is a streaming service you probably already have — but if not, what are you waiting for?

As the name implies, the streaming service is ESPN — but with a lot more. If you're a sports fan it's hard to find a much better live sports streaming service than ESPN Plus. 

It carries domestic games and tournaments as well as international sports events. In fact everything from the US Open tennis to the PGA tour, the Masters, IPL cricket, to live MLB and NHL games all season long.

  • Find out more info on an ESPN Plus subscription on the ESPN site (opens in new tab)

Lots of people sign up to ESPN Plus thanks to the Disney Bundle, which gets you a subscription to the sports service as well as Disney Plus and Hulu for just $12.99 (unfortunately it's not available outside the US).

But even if you can't get or don't care for the Disney Bundle, and despite the lack of an ESPN Plus free trial, this is a great streaming service for sports fans.

What does an ESPN Plus subscription cost?

ESPN Plus currently goes for $9.99 a month, or $99.99 a year if you pay annually instead of monthly. You can cancel whenever you want, so, if your favorite sport isn't in season, just cancel and come back when you're ready.

And even better, you could also consider bundling the ESPN Plus subscription cost with a couple of other streaming services — Hulu and Disney Plus — known as the Disney Bundle for $12.99 per month. So it's not just good value in and of itself. Packaged with two of the most popular streaming services around, it's still extremely affordable to package. Here's everything you need to know about an ESPN Plus subscription plan.

We sometimes see other streaming deals on the service too, if you can wait to see the games.

Today's best ESPN+ deals

How much does an espn subscription cost
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ESPN+ 1 Month

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$9.99

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How much does an espn subscription cost
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ESPN+ 1 Year

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$99.99

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What's included in ESPN Plus?

The biggest draw is the live streaming of thousands of sports, games and tournaments at any time — day or night. As well as live sports ESPN Plus also offers up original programming from sports talk studio shows, sports documentaries like Man in the Arena with Tom Brady and Dana White's Contender Series, exclusive articles from ESPN's sports writers and, is the exclusive home of UFC.

  • LIVE SPORTS:
    Here are the list of live sports offered on ESPN Plus: UFC, Top Rank boxing, MLB, NHL, MLS, PGA Tour, Bundesliga, Premiere Lacrosse League, Emirates FA Cup, LaLiga, Cope del Rey, Carabao Cup, EFL Championship, US Open Cup, PFL, college football, college basketball, college lacrosse, college baseball, college hockey, college wrestling, Little League World Series, Australian Open, Wimbledon, US Open tennis, WTT, The Masters, PGA Championship, cricket, rugby, G-League basketball, National Lacrosse League
  • UFC:
    You can also justify the ESPN Plus subscription due to the fact that it's the exclusive home of UFC pay-per-view (opens in new tab) events. You can't watch UFC in the US without also having ESPN Plus.
  • ORGINAL PROGRAMMING:
    ESPN Plus is also home to all sorts of original content. Peyton's Places is the main attraction. It's nice to see Peyton Manning do something other than commercials but you'll also find the excellent 30 For 30 documentaries, Stephen A's World, and SportsNation. Other popular ESPN shows like The Jump and NFL Primetime are available on ESPN Plus too.

How can I stream ESPN Plus?

ESPN Plus is available on a whole host of connected devices. Start basic on your laptop and expand to everything from Apple iOS, Android, Amazon Fire sticks and Fire TVs, Roku, Samsung Smart TV, ESPN Plus on Chromecast, PlayStation 4/5, Xbox One/Series X and for the niche techies, the Oculus Go.

Save on ESPN Plus — consider the Disney Bundle

If there's any chance at all that you might also subscribe to Disney Plus or Hulu, then you absolutely must check out the bundle that gets you both of those services along with ESPN Plus for a single price. 

It's called the Disney Bundle (opens in new tab), and it gets you Disney Plus, the basic Hulu subscription and ESPN Plus all for a single price of just $13.99 a month.

That gets you all the incredible content on Disney Plus, including films and shows from the world of Star Wars — The Book of Boba Fett and The Mandalorian — the entire Marvel Cinematic Universe, which includes the excellent WandaVision and Loki. There's also Pixar, Nat Geo and of course the rest of the Disney universe. You get all that, plus Hulu and ESPN Plus.

And it gets even better.

If you're looking for a new way to stream live TV, you can add Hulu With Live TV to your bundle and make the ESPN+ cost make even more sense. That bundle costs $69.99 a month. So now you have ESPN Plus, Disney Plus, and the basic Hulu on-demand service, plus Hulu With Live TV, which gets you dozens of live streaming channels. That's just about the most cost-effective ESPN Plus deal there is.

Is ESPN Plus free with Amazon Prime?

ESPN+ is not free on Amazon Prime. To watch all of the unique sports events and programs, you'll need a monthly subscription to ESPN+ for CAD 8.96 (US $7) or an annual fee of CAD 89.6 (US $70). You can sign up for ESPN+ through the ESPN website or through the Amazon Prime Video app.

How can I watch ESPN for free?

You can watch ESPN free (or at least part of its offerings) in-app. This is great for live sports events, podcasts, and radio stations.

What's the difference between ESPN and ESPN Plus?

The ESPN app is free and offers ESPN content to anyone with a computer, an internet connection and a zip code in the right service area. ESPN+, on the other hand, is really an extension of the ESPN app in the sense that it offers premium content that isn't available to other users.

What is the cheapest TV provider for ESPN?

Sling TV is the cheapest option if your goal is to save money. Hulu + Live TV is best for those who want live channels and lots of on-demand content. Hulu + Live TV now includes Disney+ and ESPN+.