Watching Sport in the US
The United States sells sport the way it sells everything else: in slices, league by league and package by package, to whoever bids most. A single NFL Sunday is spread across four networks and two streaming services. The NBA's national rights sit with three broadcasters and two streamers. There is no one subscription that covers American sport, and there is no law here that forces big events onto free television the way there is in the UK or India. Free sport in the US comes from an antenna rather than from an app — which is worth knowing before you start paying for anything.
What changed recently. Four of the most-repeated claims about
US sport are now out of date.
- UFC left ESPN pay-per-view. From January 2026 the UFC sits on Paramount+, included with the subscription and with no separate pay-per-view fee. Guides still sending you to ESPN+ for a numbered card are a year behind.
- ESPN+ is now ESPN Select. The product was renamed; the app still uses the old name in places. Its bigger sibling, ESPN Unlimited, went up to $31.99/month on 17 September 2026.
- MLS Season Pass no longer exists. It was discontinued after the 2025 season. Every MLS match now comes with a standard Apple TV subscription at no extra cost. Any page quoting a Season Pass price is stale.
- The NBA is no longer on TNT or HBO Max. It is ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. This is the single most common error in American sports guides.
What you can watch free
The honest answer is: less than in Britain, and less than in India. The US has no equivalent of a listed-events regime, so an event is free only when a broadcaster chooses to put it on a free-to-air network, or when a rights holder puts it on its own free channel. What that leaves is still useful.
| Sport | Where it is free |
|---|---|
| NFL | The Sunday afternoon windows (CBS, FOX) and Sunday Night Football (NBC) air on free-to-air local stations — free with an antenna |
| Super Bowl | Free-to-air network television, on a rotating network |
| World Series | FOX, free with an antenna |
| Olympics | NBC's broadcast coverage, free with an antenna. The streaming extras sit on Peacock |
| Highlights and clips | ESPN's app and site, and the official league YouTube channels for the NFL, NBA, MLB, NHL and MLS. Not live games |
| Free sports channels | Tubi, Pluto TV, The Roku Channel, Samsung TV Plus, Xumo Play, Plex and Sling Freestream all carry free ad-supported sport channels. We have confirmed none of them carrying live league games, so we do not claim it |
| Network apps | The ABC, CBS, NBC and FOX apps carry some live events, but most live sport inside them needs a pay-TV login |
One trap hides in that last row. There is no free tier of Peacock any more, and Sling's free offering is not a trial — it is a separate ad-supported service called Sling Freestream that carries no NFL or NBA.
How we define "free". Every option on this site is either a public broadcaster, a free ad-supported tier, an official free trial, or a rights-holder's own channel. We do not list or link to unlicensed rebroadcasts. Note that a VPN does not make a stream legal: reaching a service licensed for another country normally breaches that service's terms, and the bigger platforms actively block it.
The main services, and what they cost
Prices below are dated September 2026 and two of them moved within the last fortnight. Treat every figure as something to check at signup.
| Service | Carries | From | Trial |
|---|---|---|---|
| ESPN Select | The digital-only service formerly called ESPN+. Top-tier soccer, PGA Tour, out-of-market NHL, selected college sport | $12.99/month or $129.99/year | No |
| ESPN Unlimited | The linear ESPN networks plus Monday Night Football, NBA, WNBA, college football, NHL, WWE premium live events, LaLiga, NWSL, F1, FA Cup | $31.99/month or $319.99/year — raised on 17 September 2026 | No. The only advertised offer is one month free bundled with a new MLB.TV purchase |
| Paramount+ | NFL on CBS, the Champions League (English-language US rights to all three UEFA club competitions), Serie A, NWSL, Concacaf, UFC | Essential $8.99/month with ads; Premium $13.99/month | No |
| Peacock | Sunday Night Football, Premier League, WWE, NBA on NBC, Big Ten, Notre Dame. The entry tier carries none of this | Select $8.99/month (no live sport at all) — you need Premium at $12.99/month | No |
| HBO Max | B/R Sports at no extra cost: NHL, March Madness, NASCAR, college sport. No NBA | $10.99/month with ads; $18.49/month ad-free | No |
| YouTube TV | The broadcast channels plus ESPN, TNT, TBS and NFL Network. The only place to buy NFL Sunday Ticket | $82.99/month, or a Sports Plan at $64.99/month | 10 days advertised, but eligibility is restricted and many people are offered none |
| Sling TV | ESPN and ESPN2 on Orange; FS1, TBS, TNT, USA and NFL Network on Blue. Local ABC, FOX and NBC only in selected markets | Orange or Blue $45.99/month; both $60.99/month. Day passes $4.99 to $14.99 | No — the day passes are the closest thing |
| Hulu + Live TV | A hundred-plus channels including ABC, CBS, FOX, NBC, ESPN and NFL Network, bundled with Disney+ and ESPN Select | $89.99/month | Yes — 3 days for eligible new subscribers |
| Apple TV | MLS, every match, included. Friday Night Baseball, still listed for 2026. Apple holds US Formula 1 rights from 2026 | Sources conflict between $12.99 and $14.99/month — check apple.com | Yes — 7 days, new subscribers |
| Amazon Prime Video | NFL Thursday Night Football, exclusively, plus a Black Friday game and a Wild Card game | $14.99/month for Prime, or $8.99/month for Prime Video alone | Yes — 30 days on Prime |
| NBA League Pass | Out-of-market NBA. Nationally televised games are blacked out live and appear after 6am ET the next day | $16.99/month, or $24.99/month for Premium | No |
| DAZN | Not a general US sports service. Boxing and MMA pay-per-view events. NFL Game Pass on DAZN is sold internationally only, not in the US | Event-driven | No |
If you have read that DAZN carries the NFL, the Premier League or the NBA in America, you have read the Canadian or European picture by mistake. There is a full country breakdown.
Who shows what
- NFL — CBS takes the AFC Sunday afternoon games and FOX the NFC ones, with flex scheduling. Sunday nights are NBC and Peacock, Monday nights are ESPN or ABC, and Thursday nights are Amazon, exclusively. Sunday Ticket is sold only through YouTube and YouTube TV.
- NBA — ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Prime Video. TNT Sports lost the league after 2024-25 and HBO Max has no NBA at all.
- MLB — the 2026 cycle rearranged the national windows. FOX remains the main free-to-air partner, NBC took Sunday mornings and Sunday evenings with Peacock and NBCSN, ABC and ESPN have Saturday and Sunday afternoons and Monday nights, TBS continues with an HBO Max simulcast, Apple TV has Friday Night Baseball, and Netflix is new to baseball for 2026. The line to remember: ESPN no longer has Sunday Night Baseball. We are re-checking the finer windows for this cycle.
- NHL — ESPN and ABC games stream in the ESPN app, Hulu and ESPN Select depending on the window; TNT games are on HBO Max; out-of-market coverage is NHL Center Ice, streamed through ESPN Select.
- Premier League — NBC and Peacock. Peacock has the exclusive matches, and USA Network carries the televised ones.
- Champions League — Paramount+ holds the English-language US rights to the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.
- UFC — Paramount+, included with either tier since January 2026.
- Formula 1 — Apple TV holds the US rights from 2026. We could not confirm whether races are included in the base subscription, so treat that as unverified.
- Boxing — split between DAZN, Prime Video, Paramount+ and Netflix. Individual fights are usually pay-per-view; never assume a subscription includes one.
The cheapest legal routes
- Nothing at all: an antenna. It is the only route in the US that costs nothing after the hardware, and it still delivers the NFL Sunday windows, the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Olympics.
- One competition, one month: Peacock Premium for the Premier League, Paramount+ for the Champions League, ESPN Unlimited for the NBA. All three are month-to-month, so cancel when the season ends.
- Thursday Night Football: time a 30-day Prime trial to cover the games you want. It is the only genuine 30-day trial in this market.
- Trying a live-TV bundle: we would take Hulu + Live TV's 3-day trial or Sling's day passes over committing to a full month.
- Out-of-market NFL: Sunday Ticket. It is the most expensive route on this page, and it is genuinely the only one that works if your team is not local.
- Never assume a team's games are on a particular regional network. Local rights and blackouts are the biggest source of wrong answers in this market. Check the club's own site.
Is ESPN+ still called ESPN+?
No. The service was renamed ESPN Select. The ESPN app still uses the old name in places, and a great deal of advice online has not caught up. ESPN Select is the digital-only product; ESPN Unlimited is the newer, more expensive one that adds the linear networks.
Does HBO Max show NBA basketball?
No. The NBA left TNT Sports after the 2024-25 season. National rights now sit with ABC, ESPN, NBC, Peacock and Amazon Prime Video. HBO Max carries no NBA, even though its own sports page has been slow to say so.
Where did UFC pay-per-view go?
To Paramount+. From January 2026, UFC events are included with the Paramount+ subscription and there is no separate pay-per-view charge. This is one of the biggest recent changes in US sport and most guides still point at ESPN+.
Can I still buy MLS Season Pass?
No. It was discontinued after the 2025 season. From 2026, every MLS match is included with a standard Apple TV subscription at no extra cost and with no blackouts. Any page quoting a Season Pass price is out of date.
Which service has the Premier League in the US?
NBC Sports and Peacock. Peacock carries the exclusive matches and USA Network shows the televised ones. There is no free live Premier League in the US — only highlights and clips.
Is there a free way to watch sport in the US?
Two ways, and neither is an app. Free-to-air network television with an antenna still carries the NFL Sunday windows, the Super Bowl, the World Series and the Olympics. The free ad-supported services such as Tubi, Pluto TV and The Roku Channel do carry sport channels, but we have not confirmed any of them showing live league games, so we do not claim they do.
Where to go next
Watching sport in Canada DAZN by country Which services still have trials The NFL by country