 | |
| Country | United States |
|---|---|
| Programming | |
| Language | English |
| Ownership | |
| Owner | ESPN Inc. |
| History | |
| Launched | September 5, 1992 (1992-09-05) (as The Option Play) |
| Closed | August 28, 2015 (2015-08-28) |
| Replaced by | ESPN College Extra |
ESPN GamePlan was anout-of-market sports package offeringcollege football games to viewers throughout theUnited States.GamePlan began onLabor Day weekend, and continued through the first Saturday in December. It included all regional telecasts onABC, as well as games from various syndicators likeESPN Plus,Raycom Sports and SportsWest, and some local stations likeAllentown, Pennsylvania'sWFMZ-TV which broadcast locally-produced college football games. Viewers could watch games from theircable orsatellite provider or on theESPN3broadbandInternet service.
Eventually, with carriage ofESPN3 moving from computers only tosmartphones,tablets anddigital media players allowing access without any additional fees, GamePlan became a superfluous package, with only the few providers who refused to offer ESPN3 or where ESPN3 access was limited (for instance, rural areas) really able to compel viewers to use the service.
On August 28, 2015, the package was discontinued, along withESPN Full Court, to make way forESPN College Extra,[1] which offered a select bundle of games that would previously have been broadcast by GamePlan and Full Court.[2][3]
In 1992,Showtime Event Television supplemented ABC's airing of regional college football telecasts by creating "Option Play."[4] This allowed viewers to watch games not airing on their local ABC station via pay-per-view. The original cost for a single game was $8.95 (with each additional game costing $1 extra),[5] with the full "season-ticket" package priced between $49.95 and $69.95.[6] The following year,ESPN took over for Showtime and offered the purchase of up to three individual Saturday afternoon blocks for $8.95, as opposed to only a single game. In 1993, the package was renamed "Season Ticket", followed in 1994 by "ABC College Football on ESPN Pay-Per-View." In 1996, the name was again changed to "ESPN GamePlan", as the formation ofESPN Regional Television allowed for additional out-of-market games from conferences such as the Big Ten and MAC to be broadcast. ESPN would also pick up telecasts from other conferences such as the ACC, Big 12, Big East, Conference-USA, Mountain West, Pac-10, SEC and WAC for inclusion in GamePlan.
Up to 15 games were provided each week. Some games were joined in progress due to time and channel constraints.In 2007, ESPN GamePlan picked up additional telecasts of theAtlantic Coast Conference andSoutheastern Conference shown onComcast Sports Southeast/Charter Sports Southeast. This change replacedBig Ten Conference games that left ESPN Plus for the newBig Ten Network.
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