Every year, there is plenty for sports fans to celebrate, whether that's their favorite team winning a championship or their favorite athlete breaking a long-standing record. As nearly all professional sports seasons reach their conclusion, they can earn even more awards, courtesy of The ESPYS.
The ESPYS is ESPN's annual award ceremony that helps "celebrate the major athletic achievements and unforgettable moments in sports over the past year." The 2025 ceremony, taking place on July 16, will feature variety of sports figures will also be honored, such as Basketball Hall of Famer Oscar Robertson receiving the Arthur Ashe Award for Courage and Penn State women's volleyball coach Katie Schumaker-Cawley earning the Jimmy V Award for Perseverance.
For fans who want to watch the ceremony, here's how.
ESPYs start time and how to watch
- Date: Wednesday, July 16
- Start Time: 8:00 p.m. ET/5:00 p.m. PT
- Location: Dolby Theatre — Los Angeles, Calif.
- TV Channel: ABC
- Stream: ESPN+
The 2025 ESPYS will air on ABC at 8:00 p.m. ET, 5:00 p.m. PT. For fans wondering how they can stream the awards ceremony, they can do so by using ESPN+.If you have a cable or satellite provider, you can log in with your credentials. If you don't you can sign up for an ESPN+ subscription, which costs $11.99 a month.
There are a variety of other streaming services you can use to watch The ESPYS, such as Hulu, YouTube TV, fubo, and Sling TV.
List of ESPYS hosts in recent memory
The host for the 2025 ESPYS will be comedian and actor Shane Gillis. The ESPYS has had celebrities and athletes host the awards over the years.
Let's take a look at the most recent ESPYS hosts over the years.
Year | Host |
|---|---|
2015 | Joel McHale |
2016 | John Cena |
2017 | Peyton Manning |
2018 | Danica Patrick |
2019 | Tracy Morgan |
2020 | Russell Wilson, Megan Rapinoe, and Sue Bird |
2021 | Anthony Mackie |
2022 | Stephen Curry |
2024 | Serena Williams |
2025 | Shane Gillis |
In the past 11 editions of The ESPYS, there were athletes and sports stars who hosted the ceremony, such as Peyton Manning, Serena Williams, Stephen Curry, John Cena, Russell Wilson, Megan Rapinoe, Sue Bird, and Danica Patrick. Then there were celebrities who hosted, such as Anthony Mackie, Joel McHale, and Tracy Morgan.
As for the 2023 ESPYS, there was no official host for the ceremony due in part to the Writer's Guild Strike that year.
What do the ESPYS stand for?
While fans may think The ESPYS is named after ESPN, that's not the case. The ESPYs stand for Excellence in Sports Performance Yearly Awards.
The awards ceremony was created in 1993 to honor the accomplishments of athletes across all sports. It has since become an annual event, like other awards ceremonies like The Academy Awards, the Emmys, and the Tonys.