New ESPN Streaming App Launches August 21 – Should You Sign Up?

Update: The ESPN App is live! Read our full review.

Get ready for a whole new era of sports. The long-awaited ESPN App will launch August 21.

The app will offer multiview, integrated game stats, betting information, fantasy sports, and a personalized “SportsCenter For You.”

Users can choose ESPN Select (which is currently called ESPN+) for $11.99/month or $119.99/year or ESPN Unlimited for $29.99/month or $299.99/year.

On August 21, you’ll be able to access a special offer of Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Unlimited for $29.99/month for the first year.

What Is the Difference Between ESPN Select and ESPN Unlimited?

ESPN Select has more than 32,000 live sports events annually, a library of exclusive studio shows, on-demand replays, original content, and more. It’s particularly great for the NHL with 1,000 out-of-market games per season.

ESPN Unlimited has what Select offers, along with 47,000 live events and all the ESPN-owned linear channels: ESPN, ESPN2, ESPNU, ESPNews, SEC Network, ABC sports. Disney CEO Bob Iger announced today that the ESPN Unlimited option will also have NFL Network, which Disney acquired yesterday.

Announced today: users will also be able to bundle the ESPN App with NFL+ Premium, which includes NFL RedZone.

Starting next year, ESPN Unlimited will also include WWE premium live events at no extra cost.

Should You Sign Up for ESPN Unlimited?

It sounds like a pretty great platform, but there’s something to keep in mind: if you subscribe to any live TV provider that offers the ESPN channel, you’ll get ESPN Unlimited for free. So you could sign up for something like Sling TV’s Orange plan ($45.99 after a 50% discount your first month) and you’d get free access to ESPN Unlimited plus channels like TBS, TNT, CNN, A&E, and Food Network. You could add far more channels for just $15 more per month.

If you love sports, ESPN Unlimited is still, well, limited. You wouldn’t see sports on CBS, NBC, FOX, or Prime Video. You’d miss out on important playoff games in every sport if you relied only on ESPN Unlimited.

So it’s a nice option, but most sports fans will be best served with a full live TV package. And any service that has ESPN gets you that ESPN Unlimited access for free.