Week 10 matchups like No. 20 Texas’ 34-31 win over No. 9 Vanderbilt were unavailable to YouTube TV subscribers on Saturday. Kenneth Richmond / Getty Images

College football fans expressed frustration Saturday at being unable to watch crucial Week 10 matchups on YouTube TV. ESPN and its family of networks went dark on the streaming video service Friday, after YouTube TV’s existing agreement to broadcast content from Disney, which owns ESPN and ABC, expired.

YouTube TV and Disney remain at loggerheads in a dispute that centers primarily on the per-subscriber fee that Disney will charge YouTube TV to access Disney content. Until the two corporate giants agree on a new deal, YouTube TV subscribers won’t be able to watch ESPN channels, and followers of college football were the first to feel the pain Saturday.

“We are in the middle of a season where there isn’t a clear favorite,” said Andrew Safnauer, a YouTube TV subscriber and business operations consultant from Fort Mill, S.C. “‘College GameDay’ is a Saturday staple in our house. Not having it would be weird.”

To ensure that viewers would not be forced to miss “GameDay,” ESPN made the show available for free Saturday morning on the ESPN app — with no subscription or authentication required — as well as on the “The Pat McAfee Show” account on X. However, the day’s slate of college football games, which includes No. 9 Vanderbilt at No. 20 Texas, the annual Florida-Georgia game and No. 14 Tennessee versus No. 18 Oklahoma, will remain behind the ESPN app’s paywall.

“It’s smart to stream for free like (ESPN) is this morning,” Safnauer told The Athletic. “It makes them look like the good guys when I’m not sure there is one in this debate.”

YouTube TV is the fourth-largest television distributor in the United States with roughly 10 million subscribers, but if its dispute with Disney leads to a prolonged absence of ESPN programming, the company could start to lose subscribers.

“Who is going to keep YouTube TV and pay $90 without ESPN?” Safnauer said. “I feel like they’re the ones who are going to end up blinking in the negotiation. ESPN has its own app and Hulu to lean on — they could realistically hold off, give us tastes like they are today, and force us all over.”

In addition to making Saturday’s episode of “College GameDay” free on its app, ESPN and many of its broadcast partners, including the SEC, ACC and Big 12, shared a link to a petition where fans can urge YouTube TV to accept a deal and restore Disney’s sports programming.

SEC commissioner Greg Sankey shared a social media post Saturday morning that seemed to encourage college football fans to move from YouTube TV to Disney’s streaming service. “Problem solved,” Sankey wrote, along with an image upload that suggested he’d updated his Disney streaming account. “Plenty of options in this environment.”

Problem solved. Plenty of options in this environment (saved a bit while making the change). pic.twitter.com/y7d51aBfUQ

— Greg Sankey (@GregSankey) November 1, 2025

Meanwhile, TNT Sports host Adam Lefkoe poked fun at the situation while introducing the network’s Big 12 coverage Saturday. “A hearty ‘Hello’ to everyone watching on YouTube TV,” he said. “We don’t need you to send an email or make a phone call, just hang out.” TNT is owned by Warner Bros. Discovery, a competitor of Disney.

Many fans responding to an ESPN social media post Saturday complained of feeling caught in the middle of a battle between corporate media giants. Safnauer acknowledged that there’s little fans can do but wait — and hope that the parties can promptly reach an agreement that allows YouTube TV subscribers to continue watching college football on ESPN.

“Cliche, but content is king,” Safnauer said. “They have what consumers want to watch. When you control content, you can charge what you want — as long as the market will pay for it. We’re irrational about spending money on sports.”

Nov 1, 2025

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Devon Henderson is a staff writer for The Athletic. He has covered the Summer Olympics, College Football Playoffs, and the Men’s Final Four while at Arizona State University and was an intern at the Southern California News Group, where he covered the Los Angeles Rams, Los Angeles Chargers, Los Angeles Sparks, and LAFC. Follow Devon on Twitter @HendersonDevon_