Mobile ESPN no longer exists. ESPN sold a sports-focused phone service as an MVNO on Sprint’s network and stopped selling it in 2006.
Mobile ESPN is gone
ESPN stopped selling phones and plans in September 2006 and committed to service through December 31, 2006. Press reports put start-up costs at about $150 million.
If you had a Mobile ESPN line
Buyers were to receive full handset refunds, and ESPN said it would help transfer numbers to other carriers, according to NextTV.
How Mobile ESPN ended
- October 2005: Mobile ESPN launched in select cities.
- February 2006: It went national around the Super Bowl.
- September 2006: ESPN stopped selling phones and plans and moved to licensing its content to carriers.
- December 31, 2006: The committed service period ended.
The history of Mobile ESPN
Mobile ESPN ran on Sprint Nextel’s CDMA EV-DO network. It missed its subscriber targets amid handset problems and weak demand. Merrill Lynch estimated about 30,000 subscribers against an original target of 240,000, and ESPN never released an official count. About two-thirds of roughly 100 employees were to be cut. ESPN content moved to carriers as an app instead.
How to find who holds an old number now
- Check an old bill or payment record. It names the company that billed you last.
- Run the number through a carrier lookup tool. It shows the carrier that holds the number today.
- Call that carrier and ask for the account number and transfer PIN.
- Start the port from the new carrier. Never cancel the old line first.
Your right to keep a number
Number portability is federal law, not a carrier policy. The rule is the FCC’s: Portability: Keeping Your Phone Number When Changing Service Providers.
How we verified Mobile ESPN
Best Cellular tracks active carriers and defunct ones. We keep both, because people still search for brands that no longer exist. Every fact on this Mobile ESPN page comes from at least two independent sources, listed below, and we leave a detail out when no source states it. Where sources disagree, this page says so. If you can document a correction, tell us and we will check it against the sources.
Tracked and active are different counts on this site. Mobile ESPN counts in our tracked total, not in our active total, so it does not appear in tools built for live carriers.
Questions about Mobile ESPN
Is Mobile ESPN still available?
No. ESPN stopped selling the service in September 2006, and service was committed through December 31, 2006.
Which network did Mobile ESPN use?
Sprint Nextel’s CDMA EV-DO network. It was an MVNO.
Why did Mobile ESPN shut down?
It missed subscriber targets amid handset problems and weak demand.
Did customers get refunds?
Buyers were to receive full handset refunds, according to NextTV.
Does BestCellular.com list Mobile ESPN as an active carrier?
No. We track Mobile ESPN as a defunct carrier. It counts toward our tracked total but not our active total.
Sources and verification
Facts checked October 11, 2026 against at least two independent sources:
- NextTV: Game over, ESPN Mobile shut down: the shutdown and refunds.
- RCR Wireless: Mobile ESPN drops MVNO ball: the September 2006 decision.
- TV Technology: Shutdown of Mobile ESPN shakes nascent industry: the cost and layoffs.
- RCR Wireless: Mousetrapped: Disney’s later exit from wireless.
Best Cellular. “Mobile ESPN: What Happened,” BestCellular.com. https://bestcellular.com/mobile-espn/
Free to reuse with credit. Licence, sources and the full dataset. All defunct carriers are listed on carriers that shut down.