ESPN+ To Live Stream More Than 200 Games of 2018 College Football Season

With the 2018 college football season kicking off, fans can watch more games and more teams than ever with the launch of ESPN+, the premium direct-to-consumer video service from The Walt Disney Company’s Direct-to-Consumer and International (DTCI) and ESPN. The inaugural season-long college football slate on ESPN+ will include more than 200 games, with week one alone featuring 27 games over the course of three days (Aug. 30-Sept.1) all available to subscribers via the ESPN App.

The addition of ESPN+ expands the overall portfolio of college football coverage, providing a platform for even more conferences to gain exposure on the national level. Over the course of the season multiple conferences will take center stage including, Big South, Conference USA, the Ivy League, Ohio Valley, MAC, and Sun Belt all of which have extensive rights agreements for multiple sports to appear on ESPN+ alongside thousands of events each year, as well as MEAC, MVFC, Northeast, PSAC, Southern, Southland, and SWAC.

As part of a larger deal with the University of Kansas that includes nearly 200 live events, ESPN+ will carry the Jayhawks season opener against Nicholls on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 6:30 p.m.

In addition, fans will have access to teams expected to top their conferences this season. Ohio — picked to finish first in the MAC East Division— will host Howard at 2p.m. and Arkansas State — a top pick to take their division in the Sun Belt — will meet Southeast Missouri State at 7p.m. Both games are a part of the Saturday line-up.

Top-Ranked FCS Programs Showcased
Six of the NCAA FCS Coaches Poll Top 25 teams will appear during week one, including defending FCS national champion North Dakota State in their opener against Cal Poly on Saturday, Sept. 1 at 3:30 p.m. ET. Other notable ranked match-ups include:

• No. 5 Kennesaw will travel to Georgia State to kick things off on Thursday, Aug. 30 at 7 p.m. This will be the first meeting of the two young football programs who separated by just an hour’s drive time in Georgia.
• No. 10 Samford will host Shorter on Thursday at 7:30 p.m. The Samford Bulldogs were picked as the pre-season favorite to win the Southern Conference.
• Butler travels to No. 24 Youngstown State on Saturday, Sept. 1, for a 1 p.m. kick-off.
• The Citadel will travel to the South Carolina upstate to face No.11 Wofford on Saturday at 6 p.m. The in-state rivals have met 72 times with the Bulldogs leading the series at 41-27-1.
• Rounding out the weekend, No. 20 Illinois State will host St. Xavier State on Saturday at 7:30 p.m.