Fans not in front of a television missed a pretty good first half of football Thursday.
New Year’s Day featured a healthy slate of college football games, perhaps none bigger than the Rose Bowl, which pitted No. 2 Oregon against No. 3 Florida State in the first game of the sport’s new playoff format.
It was pretty much appointment television, which is why fans understandably weren’t pleased when they tried to open ESPN’s “WatchESPN” app at kickoff.
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ESPN sent a tweet acknowledging that the app was experiencing difficulties, but the issue wasn’t resolved on most platforms until halftime. By that point, fans had missed plenty of big plays and a compelling battle between Heisman Trophy winners Marcus Mariota and Jameis Winston.
The network later reported that it had resolved the issue, but several users still reported problems well into the second half.
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The app, which offers live streaming of ESPN’s major sporting events via smartphone, tablet, Apple TV, Roku, Xbox and several other platforms, also went down during Team USA’s matchup against Germany in the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
