ESPN offers Euro 2020 match broadcasts on ESPN+

ESPN’s coverage of Euro 2020 was always meant to be shown across ESPN television networks, and it still is. But after an avalanche of criticism from ESPN+ subscribers on social media who were upset that the streaming service weren’t broadcasting the games, the ESPN+ streaming service has relented and now features a match broadcast as one of its four multi-cam views.

The new development was spotted by readers of World Soccer Talk for Saturday’s Portugal against Germany game, which was listed on ESPN+ as an alternate feed. Pictured above, the multi-cam featured the match broadcast in the top left window. Instead of the ESPN commentary featuring Jon Champion and Taylor Twellman, the broadcast had Simon Brotherton and Andy Townsend calling the game.

The other three multi-cam windows include a top-down look at the field of play as well as player cams.

While watching one of four mini-windows is not an ideal viewing experience, it may be sufficient to appease the ESPN+ subscribers who are (1) not satisfied with the ESPN commentary teams and/or (2) expect to watch Euro 2020 games as part of their streaming subscription.

There’s no word whether this is a temporary or permanent move by ESPN+. In all of the press releases and announcements of ESPN’s coverage of Euro 2020, the broadcaster never said it would stream games via ESPN+. The broadcaster consistently informed consumers that ESPN+ would only feature multi-cams as a second-screen experience.

Up until today, ESPN+’s multi-cam second-screen experience for Euro 2020 included a stadium cam as well as player cams and cameras focused on the coaches, but not on the match broadcast itself. Today’s development does allow subscribers to watch the game, but only in a small window (in the aforementioned top left corner of the screen).

ESPN+ is available for $5.99 per month and includes games from across LaLiga, Bundesliga, UEFA Nations League, Championship, League One, League Two, FA Cup, League Cup, MLS, Leagues Cup, US Open Cup, USL, International Champions Cup, Eredivisie, Danish Superliga, Chinese Super League, Indian Super League, Australian A-League, Sweden’s Allsvenskan and FA Community Shield.

It’s important to note that the full match experience can only be watched via ESPN (and anywhere ESPN is streamed such as the ESPN app, fuboTV, Sling Orange, etc).

Here’s the Euro 2020 TV schedule (all times Eastern):

Euro 2020 TV schedule