Will ESPN Offer College Football In 4K In 2025?

By Phillip Swann
The TV Answer Man – Follow me on X.

TV Answer Man, do you know if ESPN will have college football games in 4K this year? I don’t see any games in 4K this weekend, right? – Gene, Pittsburgh.

Gene, the 2025 college football season starts this weekend, but ESPN will not broadcast a game in 4K.

However, that doesn’t mean that ESPN won’t be back this year with upscaled 4K broadcasts of college football. The sports network’s first 4K game of the year will be the Notre Dame-Miami game on Sunday, August 31, 2025 at 7:30 p.m. ET. (While ESPN is producing the event, it will actually air on ABC, which will simulcast the game in HD on ABC network affiliates.)

Notre Dame is a 2.5-point favorite as of now to defeat the University of Miami with ESPN’s Matchup Predictor giving the Fighting Irish a 54 percent chance of winning.

YouTube TV, Dish, Sling TV, DIRECTV, Comcast, Optimum and Verizon are expected to offer the game on their ESPN 4K channels. As of today, ESPN has not said if its new cord-cutter app will offer 4K programming.

What Is Upscaled 4K?
The ESPN 4K broadcast will be ‘upscaled’ from 1080p HD.  The upscaled 4K means that the game will be produced in 1080p HD on site and upgraded to 4K for the home transmission. ESPN switched to upscaled 4K a few years ago after previously doing some games in native 4K.

Gene, hope that helps. Happy viewing and stay safe!

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