Field Gulls
For those of you who do not have an ESPN+ subscription and don’t intend to get one for the sole purpose of watching the Seattle Seahawks play, there is some good news.
The annual ESPN+ exclusive game on Monday Night Football is apparently coming to an end. Seattle’s Week 7 home game against the Houston Texans on Oct. 20 has been moved over to regular ESPN. It’s the second part of an MNF doubleheader, with the Detroit Lions hosting the Tampa Bay Buccaneers at 4 pm PT. Seahawks vs. Texans is a 7 pm PT kickoff, so brace yourselves for a late night at Lumen Field.
ESPN is set to launch a Direct-to-Consumer subscription app, which will provide all of ESPN’s linear channels and ESPN+ at at a cost of $30/month. The new ESPN-NFL deal will also soon eliminate the doubleheader nights, which has had mixed reception at best over the past several years of existence. If you’re into the media aspect of sports, Awful Announcing has a summary of what’s going on:
Of course, ESPN is also in the process of twilighting ESPN+ to focus on its soon-to-launch all-encompassing streaming product, even if the network doesn’t want to admit it. ESPN+ won’t be going away when the new streamer launches on August 21; it will be part of a “Select” plan that costs the same as a current ESPN+ subscription. However, that plan is more of a vehicle to fulfill prior contractual obligations than it is a distinct offering from ESPN, hence why the network decided to move its ESPN+ exclusive NFL game back onto its linear channel.
Another way to put all of this as it pertains to the Seahawks-Texans: If you have ESPN through streaming or your cable/satellite provider, you can watch the game without subscribing to ESPN+. Furthermore, if you live in the Seattle area (more specifically, the 75-mile radius in which you can receive the local Seattle TV affiliates like KOMO, KING, KIRO, and KCPQ), then the game will be shown on a local affiliate.
Consider it one less paywall to navigate if you’re not an ESPN+ subscriber.
