CW Sports to Stream Via ESPN in Unique Content Pact
In a surprising turn of events, ESPN and The CW have announced a new partnership that will bring approximately 800 hours of college football and basketball, professional bull riding, WWE fights, NASCAR races, PBA bowling, and professional volleyball to ESPN’s direct-to-consumer subscription service. The CW will oversee the sales of ad revenue tied to these games, which will only stream on ESPN and not on its linear TV outlets.
Brad Schwartz, president of The CW, expressed his belief that standing up a stand-alone streaming product is not necessary, as ESPN already has a built-in audience. This move reflects the ongoing trend of bundling content and services to combat the fragmentation of sports properties across various streaming platforms.
The collaboration between The CW and ESPN is a result of regular discussions between Schwartz and Nick Dawson, who oversees college sports programming at ESPN. The CW has access to sports content that ESPN does not, including ACC, Mountain West, and Pac-12 games, as well as WWE content. This partnership provides a reason for fans of these sports to come to ESPN and offers accessibility for consumers and incremental reach for advertisers.
This deal marks The CW as one of the few third-party offerings under ESPN’s umbrella, joining NFL Network, NFL RedZone, and MLB.tv. Emily Horowitz, vice president of ESPN’s direct-to-consumer strategy, sees this as a value add for ESPN’s Unlimited subscribers, making the product more attractive.
The CW, known for its young-audience-skewing programs, has seen an increase in viewers watching sports programming since Nexstar’s ownership. The partnership between The CW Network and Roku will also bring CW entertainment programming to The Roku Channel in Fall 2026, offering a variety of shows and over 800 hours of CW library content.
Overall, this collaboration between ESPN and The CW signifies a strategic move to provide diverse sports content to viewers while leveraging each other’s strengths in the competitive streaming landscape.
