Is ESPN Select Worth It?

Yes, if you're a soccer, hockey, or college sports fan who wants LaLiga, NWSL, out-of-market NHL, or ESPN's own lineup of college football and basketball games without paying for a live-TV bundle. No, if Monday Night Football, the NBA, or any other live ESPN broadcast is the draw, because Select doesn't include them.

It's $13.99 a month or $139.99 a year, and it's a separate plan from ESPN Unlimited rather than a discounted version of it.

Run your free optimization → and Stream Engine Planner will check whether Select adds anything you don't already have through a service you're paying for.

What $13.99 a month gets you

ESPN Select is the continuation of the old ESPN+ under a new name since the ESPN lineup split into two groups in 2025. It's an on-demand and streaming-only library: a separate set of college football games branded specifically for Select, men's and women's college basketball, LaLiga and NWSL soccer, out-of-market NHL games, the full PGA Tour season, ESPN Originals, 30 for 30, and E60 catalog. None of it airs on ESPN's TV channels. All of it streams through the ESPN app, and both Select and Unlimited support up to 3 screens at once.

That gap, live channels vs. a streaming-only library, is the whole difference between the two plans, and it's why the cheaper one can look like a bargain right up until you realize it can't play a single live ESPN broadcast.

If UFC is what you want, neither ESPN plan is the answer anymore. UFC's rights left ESPN at the end of 2025, so every event, from Fight Nights to the former pay-per-view main cards, now streams exclusively on Paramount+ instead.

Where the confusion comes from

Some guides blur this line and describe Select as carrying a smaller slice of live programming, but it carries no live ESPN channel at all. The NFL, including Monday Night Football and NFL Network, the NBA and WNBA, WWE's Premium Live Events, and ESPN's studio shows like SportsCenter, College GameDay, and First Take all sit entirely on the Unlimited side.

Select does get its own separate set of college football and basketball games, but not the marquee matchups that air on ESPN's TV channels. If it's airing live on an ESPN channel, Select can't show it to you, no matter which app or device you're using.

Who gets their money's worth

If you like soccer, an ad-supported Select subscription at $13.99 a month is a cheaper way to watch LaLiga and NWSL than most live-TV bundles that carry a fraction of that coverage.

Golf fans get the same value, since the full PGA Tour season streams on Select with no need to pay for Unlimited.

Hockey fans looking for out-of-market NHL games get a similar deal, and college sports fans who watch Select's own group of college football and men's or women's college basketball complete the group that gets real use from Select.

Who's better off with Unlimited, or skipping ESPN entirely

If Monday Night Football, the NBA or WNBA, or SEC and ACC football on ESPN's live channels is what you're after, Select won't cover any of it.

Unlimited also picked up NFL Network as of July 2026, seven regular-season games including a Week 16 doubleheader at no added cost, which widens the gap between the two plans even further for a football-loving household weighing Select against the pricier option. Our ESPN Unlimited worth-it guide covers whether the $31.99 plan earns its price across a full year, and if Monday Night Football specifically is the only reason you're looking at ESPN at all, our season-by-season cost breakdown walks through when a monthly Unlimited subscription beats paying for the full year up front.

Check these before you pay for Select on its own

A Hulu + Live TV subscription already bundles ESPN Select into the Hulu app, on top of separate ESPN Unlimited access through the ESPN app itself. If you're already paying for Hulu + Live TV, a standalone Select subscription buys you nothing you don't already have, exactly the kind of overlap a Stream Engine Planner report is built to catch before you pay for it twice.

The Disney Bundle is the other route in. It pairs Disney+, Hulu, and ESPN Select, all with ads, for $21.99 a month, about $8 more than Select alone but with two more services layered on top of it. Run the math against what those three would cost you separately before assuming the standalone price is your only option.

One more thing to know before you commit either way: ESPN doesn't let you pause a Select or Unlimited subscription the way some other services do. Canceling auto-renew is the only way to stop future charges, so if you're chasing a single soccer season or a college football weekend, plan for a subscribe-and-cancel cycle rather than counting on pausing between events. Our guide to pausing vs. canceling streaming subscriptions covers which services do support pausing, in case that flexibility matters more to you than ESPN's library does.

Making your decision

Select earns its $13.99 if soccer, golf, hockey, or Select's own college sports lineup is what gets you to open the app in the first place, and it's a waste of money if you're picturing Monday Night Football, the NBA, or a Saturday of marquee college football on the live ESPN channels, since none of that exists on this plan. Check whether Hulu + Live TV or a Disney Bundle you already carry gets you there for free before paying for it as a fourth subscription. Run your free optimization → and see exactly where a plan like Select fits against everything else on your streaming bill.