ESPN plans to air much of Wimbledon on ESPN Unlimited

ESPN is killing the tennis vibe at the 2026 Wimbledon Championships for US television viewers. First, the network is pushing Chris McKendry out of the host chair. Now, we learn that many of the matches will be behind the paywall of ESPN Unlimited.

This also happened at the Australian Open much to the disdain of fans. ESPN Unlimited requires a $30 monthly subscription.

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What fans will see on standard ESPN

The network will feature one match on the standard ESPN channel; however, the rest of the action will be on ESPN Unlimited. It does not appear that ESPN will utilize ESPN2 or ESPNews which are also on most standard cable packages to show any Wimbledon coverage.

In the early rounds, when many matches are occurring simultaneously, fans will miss out on the action unless they elect to pay the ESPN Unlimited $29.99 monthly subscription rate. Fans were unhappy last year when ESPN+ was the paywall of choice for the network at a cost of $13 per month so this will definitely not sit well with them.

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Why tennis should not be buried behind a paywall

Streaming matches on subscription-based channels is a terrible idea.

This is not the NFL with a broad fanbase and weekly action.

There are four Grand Slam tennis tournaments per year. Fans should be able to see as much action as possible on standard television from these events.

Tennis is trying to grow its fanbase. Hiding its best athletes competing at the highest levels of the sport behind a paywall does not accomplish this goal.