With almost every channel showing college basketball (and better pricing than the competition), Sling is a great option for college basketball fans
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The 2025-26 NCAA basketball season is entering the final stages with March Madness just over a month away. As usual, it’s a tight race for top seedings. Arizona leads the AP Top 25 with an undefeated record, and five teams — UConn, Michigan, Duke, Nebraska, and Gonzaga — all suffering just one loss so far. Last season’s national champions, the Florida Gators, are at No. 19 with 14-6.
If you’re looking to watch more college basketball games ahead of March Madness, there’s a good chance you’ll need to reassess your TV/streaming subscription setup. Figuring out how to watch NCAA basketball is notoriously challenging, as broadcasts are spread out across more than a dozen TV channels. And this landscape becomes doubly difficult if you’ve cut the cord on cable recently.
However, there is one affordable, effective way to watch college basketball in 2026: Sling. The streaming service carries almost every channel showing NCAA basketball this year, letting fans stream games without cable or the hefty price tag of many live TV streaming services. Ahead is a quick guide on using Sling to watch college basketball games online this season.
What Sling Channels Show College Basketball Games?
College basketball broadcasts are spread out across more than a dozen channels, which can be separated into three different types of channels: national channels, local channels, and college sports channels. National channels with NCAA basketball livestreams are ESPN, ESPN2, ESPN3, Fox Sports 1 (FS1), Fox Sports 2 (FS2), USA, and CBS Sports Network. Local channels with college basketball coverage are ABC, NBC, FOX, and CBS. And the college channels are SEC Network, SEC Network , ESPNU, Longhorn Network, ACCN, ACCNX, Pac12 Network, and Big Ten Network.
Viewers don’t need every single one of these channels to keep up with college basketball, especially if you’re only following a few teams. But it is a pain to figure out which ones you’ll need throughout the whole season, which is why we recommend one of Sling’s comprehensive plans.
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How Much is Sling? Packages Breakdown, Pricing
Sling offers four packages: Select, Orange, Blue, and Orange Blue.
Sling Select is the most affordable option, starting at $19.99 a month, but it only has 10 channels. It carries local channels (FOX, ABC, and NBC) in select markets, but no other channels that show NCAA basketball games.
Sling Orange carries all three ESPN channels in its lineup of 30 channels, and it starts at $45.99 a month. You can also get short-term passes to Sling Orange: a one-day pass is $4.99, a three-day pass is $9.99, and a seven-day pass is $14.99.
Sling Blue carries local channels (Fox, NBC, and ABC), FS1, TNT, and USA in a lineup of more than 40 channels, and also starts at $45.99 a month.
Sling Orange Blue carries all of the above with a total of 50 channels and starts at $60.99 a month. For college basketball fans, this is the best option. You get a ton of channels showing games at a lower price than many other live TV streamers with a similar lineup.
Sling also offers a Sports Extra add-on, which includes SEC Network, ACCN, ESPNU, SEC Network , ACCNX, and Longhorn Network. This add-on costs $11/month, on top of your base package. No matter which package you go with, you’ll likely want to get the Sport Extra add-on as well.
Does Sling Offer Any Deals?
Sling is always affordable, but they make the deal even sweeter with regular discounts and promotions.
The best Sling deal right now is a 50% discount on your first month of Sling Orange Blue (our top pick for watching NCAA basketball). This brings your first bill down to as low as $29.99.
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Sling is also offering a pre-pay and save deal on its Orange and Blue packages. This deal gets you three months of service starting at $115, which saves $23 compared to paying monthly.
Note: Sling pricing and channel availability may vary depending on user location.
