Disney has announced that by the end of the calendar year, there will be a new ESPN hub within Disney+ in the United States, which will offer select live sports and programming from Disney’s sports programming.  Next year, Disney will also be launching a full version of ESPN on Disney+ in the United States.

Bob Iger, the CEO at Disney, said during quarterly financial results call:

“We will be adding an ESPN tile to Disney+, giving all U.S. subscribers access to select live games and studio programming within the Disney+ app.  We see this as a first step to bring ESPN to Disney+ viewers as we ready the launch of our enhanced standalone ESPN streaming service in the fall of 2025.”

Disney has already added lots of ESPN content into Disney+ in the past, such as documentaries like 30 For 30.  It also offers some select free ESPN content through Hulu and ABC, so doing the same in the United States makes sense.

It was also confirmed that ESPN+ subscribers will also be able to get access to content directly through Disney+, just like Hulu On Disney+ operates.

Bob Iger has said this new ESPN hub is there to get audiences used to seeing sports within Disney+ ahead of the launch of the full-service launch later in 2025.

This follows a similar change that’s happening in Latin America in June, which will be adding a ESPN hub to Disney+ when it merges Star+.    Disney is also going to start broadcasting more sports content in some countries in Europe, which might indicate ESPN is also coming to Disney+ eventually internationally, especially following the closure of ESPN Player.  But right now, Bob Iger has said they aren’t focused too much on international expansion, but know there are opportunities there.

Disney hasn’t announced any more details on when this new ESPN hub will launch in the United States, but hopefully, we find out pretty soon.   The addition of ESPN content onto Disney+ will allow the streaming service to become more of a general entertainment platform to compete with Netflix, Peacock and Amazon, which also offer live sports.

Do you think an ESPN hub within Disney+ makes sense?  Let us know on social media!

Roger Palmer

Roger has been a Disney fan since he was a kid and this interest has grown over the years. He has visited Disney Parks around the globe and has a vast collection of Disney movies and collectibles. He is the owner of What's On Disney Plus & DisKingdom. Email: Roger@WhatsOnDisneyPlus.com Twitter: Twitter.com/RogPalmerUK Facebook: Facebook.com/rogpalmeruk

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