Ever since ESPN+ was announced, many feared that ESPN would take away all the free games that aired on ESPN3. Now that fear has become a reality.
ESPN3 gave streamers free access to a ton of games not airing on ESPN’s traditional cable networks. Especially during college football you would find games from conferences like the Mac and Sunbelt on ESPN3. Often you also would find many D2 and D3 schools on ESPN3.
Now ESPN has started to move some, but not all, games to ESPN+. Most recently the VMI-WCU game originally scheduled for ESPN3 will now air on ESPN+.
In an official statement from the Southern Conference about the move they said, “Based on its agreement with the Southern Conference, ESPN has the contractual authority to shift collegiate athletic events from ESPN3 to the newly launched ESPN+. This movement of content is also occurring at many other Division I conferences that partner with ESPN.”
Not all ESPN3 games are moving over to ESPN+. It looks like it’s based on whether the conference signs up for ESPN+. For now we can confirm the following college conferences have agreed to move to ESPN+: America East, ASun, Big South, Big West, Horizon, Ivy League, MAAC, MAC, MEAC, Missouri Valley, NEC, Southern Conference, Southland, Summit League, Sun Belt, and the WAC.
Why make the move? Money. These small conferences do not get the big payouts larger conferences get. ESPN+ allows them to make more money on their streams than what they got with ESPN3.
You can learn more about ESPN+ HERE.
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