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In late August, ESPN introduced widespread changes to its mobile app alongside its new direct-to-consumer streaming service. The aim was to direct users to live events and programming that they paid for.
Like with any major app update, there were some initial complaints. But for the most part, those complaints were few and far between. That was, until this past weekend’s Week 1 of the 2025 college football season.
That’s when the complaints became very loud, and it became very clear that fans were not happy with the changes to the new app.
Lack Of College Football Box Scores Makes ESPN Mobile App Almost Unusable
While there were several complaints about fans struggling to follow along with the gamecast or struggling to find the proper stream, one complaint was the most common.
It appears, unless something changes in future weeks, that ESPN will not have live box scores for any games not broadcast on its family of networks. That meant that every single game involving a Big Ten team that wasn’t on an ESPN network had no box score.
Those games included No. 2 Penn State against Nevada, Michigan and true freshman superstar QB Bryce Underwood against New Mexico, and No. 7 Oregon against Montana State.
It didn’t take long for fans to notice the absences.
What happened to the ESPN app??? I can’t pull up a box score during a game?
— Ryan Zimmerthey (@ZimmerTheyThem) August 30, 2025
At least as of yesterday, ESPN’s website no longer even provides in-game play-by-play or box scores for games that don’t involve a school from one of its “conference partners.”
— Michaleen (@michaleen) August 31, 2025
@BarstoolBigCat What is with @espn and not showing any live box scores for any of the games not being aired on their network? The ppl demand all of the box scores!!
— cory carroll (@crc5988) August 31, 2025
That means when the Big Ten (and others) get into conference play, there’s a chance that ESPN won’t provide live box scores for several top-10 matchups.
And if you’re not providing box scores in your app, what value are you even providing to fans?
One theory is that the network negotiated a deal where it will only post live box scores for games involving teams from affiliated conferences. While that may seem like a win for ESPN on its surface, the network will suffer when people leave its app for an alternative.
The entire point of something like the ESPN app is to provide things like live box scores to fans. If it fails to do that, no matter how nice the app update looks, it’s going to bleed users. And ESPN has nobody to blame but itself.