Sports Watch: Little-known gem offers buried treasure

There is an abundance of coverage for fans of US sports out there, but not a lot of people seem to know about it.

Did you know there’s a gold mine of sporting content available to New Zealanders that’s going unnoticed?

And the funny thing is that you’re probably already subscribed to it.?

I’ll explain. Included in a Sky Sport subscription is access to ESPN’s live and on demand coverage through its app and website, and on that there’s a plethora of great sporting content available.

Just log in with the same username and password you have for Sky TV.

There have been adverts on ESPN about NHL games now being streamed by ESPN, but there’s so much more to it than that.

However, let’s not overlook the NHL. Up until this season, ice hockey fans would have to pay around $200 on the NHL app, but now it’s all included inside ESPN’s app, also with the home and away team feeds. Although there’s no

way of telling which one you’re getting until you click on it.

During the US tennis open, every court is shown on it, so you don’t have to watch the match being screened on the TV channel.

There is also an incredible amount of US College sport on the app and while NCAA wrestling or lacrosse may not be that appealing, college American

football and basketball games are thrilling to watch, and just as entertaining as the NFL or NBA.

Last Sunday, there were 51 NCAA American football and 20 basketball games shown.

The regular ESPN shows are also on it, including the excellent 30 for 30 documentaries.

There are also NFL and NBA games on demand on ESPN, something you can’t find on the Sky Go app.

And best of all, the commercial breaks have been removed, so you can watch an NFL game

when you come home from work in the evening in two hours, rather than three.

One gripe is that the ESPN Apple TV app doesn’t work in New Zealand, so to watch it on your big screen you have to bounce it from your phone to your TV.

Log-in access to ESPN isn’t available to Sky Sport Now customers, but I’ve been told that’s something Sky TV is working on with ESPN.