ESPN+ will be integrated into the Disney+ app; next season’s MLB Opening Day will feature an ESPN doubleheader; NASCAR unveils its 2025 schedule, and more.
ESPN takes next step towards full DTC offering
ESPN announced Thursday it will begin fully integrating ESPN+ into the Disney+ app on December 4 as the company marches toward its planned launch of a full direct-to-consumer product in the fall of 2025. ESPN+ subscribers will be able to access live events within the Disney+ app, and non-subscribers will be able to add on an ESPN+ subscription with their Disney+ subscription.
Additionally, ESPN says it will make “select” ESPN content available to Disney+ subscribers without an ESPN+ subscription, although it was not immediately clear which events that comment refers to. So far ESPN has simulcast a handful of events on Disney+, including the NFL FLAG youth football championships, cartoon presentations of NFL and NHL games, and Caitlin Clark‘s first WNBA game with the Fever.
Disney’s direct-to-consumer offerings currently include Disney+, ESPN+, and Hulu, which can be bundled together in a number of combinations. Hulu also offers “Hulu+Live TV”, which includes streaming access to a full suite of cable networks. The planned launch, which will certainly be included in these bundles, of the ESPN “Flagship” product appears to still be on target for a launch before the start of next year’s football season, although a number of questions still remain.
ESPN announces Opening Day doubleheader
ESPN has announced its coverage of Major League Baseball’s 2025 opening day, which will feature both of the league champions opening their season at home. The Yankees will host the Brewers at 3 PM, followed by the defending champion Dodgers hosting the Tigers at 7 PM. Both telecasts will be full-national exclusives.
The ESPN doubleheader is the first in the current rights deal with MLB; the network has only presented one game in each of the last four seasons. In addition to the one opening night game and the season-long Sunday Night Baseball coverage, ESPN is allowed up to five other games throughout the season. It was not immediately clear if the second opening day game counts towards this limit.
One only has to look back to 2019 to see when ESPN presented ten games across the first week of MLB action.
In other MLB broadcasting news, the Yankees are nearing a deal to replace longtime radio voice John Sterling with current Mariners TV voice Dave Sims, according to the New York Post. Sterling retired from WFAN after 35 years but returned to call the Yankees’ postseason run. Previous reporting indicated the finalists for the role are Sims and Rickie Ricardo, who was among Sterling’s replacements during the 2024 regular season.
NASCAR announces 2025 TV coverage
NASCAR announced its 2025 Cup Series schedule on Wednesday, the first of its new rights deals with Fox, Amazon, TNT, and NBC. Fox will once again lead off the season with the preseason “Clash at Bowman Gray” February 2 from Winston-Salem, NC (replacing the LA Coliseum race), before the Daytona 500 on February 16. Fox will then carry the races at Atlanta and COTA before FS1 carries nine of the next ten, Talladega being the lone exception.
In its first season of coverage, Amazon Prime Video will pick up the season on Memorial Day Weekend with the Coca Cola 600 in its traditional Sunday evening timeslot, the first of its five consecutive races. TNT Sports will begin its first season with a Saturday night race in Atlanta — which will begin the new five-race “In-Season Tournament” — and carry the annual Chicago Street Race, which this season moves up to a 2 PM ET start.
NBC Sports will present the final 14 races, beginning with Iowa on August 3 and concluding with the playoffs, which run through November 2. USA Network will exclusively air ten races (no simulcast on Peacock), and NBC will air four, including the final three.
The Xfinity Series will be televised exclusively by CW, and FS1 will carry the truck series, with one Friday night race set aside for Fox.
Plus: McGuire, DirectTV, Monaco GP, Gruden
— Hockey analyst Pierre McGuire will join the University of Massachusetts Sports Network this season as an analyst for select UMass men’s hockey games on ESPN+, it was announced Tuesday. McGuire previously worked for NBC Sports during its run with the NHL and TSN for its national hockey coverage.
— DirectTV has abandoned its attempted purchase of rival Dish Network, after bondholders rejected a deal, according to CNBC. The acquisition, which would have consolidated the two largest satellite television providers in the country, is not expected to return to the negotiating table. Both DirectTV and Dish operate competing vMVPD products: DirecTV Stream and Sling TV, respectively.
— The Monaco Grand Prix has reached a six-year contract with Formula One to remain a part of the flagship open-wheel racing circuit through 2031. As part of the deal, the race will move from the last weekend in May to the first weekend in June, beginning in 2026. In the United States, that means leaving its traditional Memorial Day weekend position it has shared with the Indianapolis 500 and NASCAR’s Coca-Cola 600.
— Former ESPN Monday Night Football analyst Jon Gruden has joined Barstool Sports under a multi-year contract. The news was first reported by Adam Schefter of ESPN. During his MNF tenure, Gruden was at one point was reportedly the highest-paid commentator at the network. He left MNF to coach the Raiders, but resigned in 2021 after a league investigation found that he sent inappropriate emails between 2011 and 2018.
