MARCH 22, 2025 – It’s spring, and that means it’s time for two of the world’s great sporting events: the NCAA college basketball tournaments, known as March Madness, and Major League Baseball’s 2025 opening season. The American Forces Network, AFN, will be broadcasting all the action with round-the-clock access for America’s military audiences around the world.
“We know what our audiences want,” says Chris Vadnais, Director of the American Forces Network. “It’s always our privilege to provide America’s military forces and their families with their favorite sports and the action they love.”
AFN’s live coverage of the 2025 NCAA men’s and women’s college basketball tournaments has now begun, with the early matches drawing large viewership among military audiences. The tournaments bring together 68 men’s and women’s teams and some of the best athletes in college sports. AFN’s live coverage will follow the competitions through to the women’s championship game on April 6, and the men’s championship on April 7.
On March 27, Major League Baseball will take the mound as 30 teams head into this year’s 162-game season. AFN intends to knock coverage out of the park by airing all the MLB’s opening games in five days. Every pitch and homerun will be broadcast in an AFN series, “30 Games in 5 Days”.
AFN’s popular video streaming app, AFN Now, is also making NCAA tournament action and MLB games easily accessible to DoD audiences overseas, with plans for separate and simulcast live stream channels. In addition to live streaming, tournaments and games will be available on AFN Now as convenient, video-on-demand content, and available to watch for seven days after airing live.
Schedules and regional airdates for both NCAA basketball tournaments and MLB opening season games can be found online at, MyAFN: https://afn.mil.
“There’s no other network that provides our military audiences overseas with the range of morale-boosting entertainment, information, and sports programming as AFN,” says Jim Alexander, Director of the AFN Broadcast Center. “Even with two of our eight television channels fully dedicated to sports, our military audiences keep asking for more. Our overseas viewers cannot get enough.”
That hunger for worldclass sports entertainment was on display earlier this year when AFN’s Super Bowl broadcast broke viewership records. The success of AFN Now has been especially impressive. The military app, now just over two years old, continues its own record-breaking run now with more than 100,000 subscribers to the free service. In January 2025 alone, military audiences overseas streamed almost 200,000 hours of content.
“Our streaming apps continue to set new records due to the great sports and premium entertainment being offered,” says Associate Director, Kim Antos, who led development of AFN’s television streaming service. “March Madness and the start of Major League Baseball continue that trend, with service members anxious to unwind at the end the day with a good game or their favorite shows.”
The AFN Now app is free and easy to download, notes Antos. The apps have proven highly successful for providing convenient access to top-rated entertainment, news, and sports programming.
DoD members overseas are encouraged to download both the television app, AFN Now, and radio streaming app, AFN Go apps. Both are available from Google Play or Apple App Store. They are also available on Google and Apple devices, Amazon Fire, Roku, and select smart TVs with app functionality.
Alexander expresses appreciation for the generosity of AFN’s many industry partners.
“AFN’s programming continues to be prized by America’s men and women in uniform,” says Alexander. “Those offerings are only possible due to the amazing support we receive from partners, such as the MLB, NCAA, CBS, ABC, ESPN, along with so many other sports leagues and networks.”
Vadnais adds, “That support to America’s soldiers, sailors, airmen, and Marines, has proven invaluable for enhancing troop morale, retention and recruiting, as well as safety and security. AFN’s programming, along with its motto, “We Bring You Home”, continues to be cherished and highly respected by DoD audiences for its value and the great services we provide.”
The American Forces Network has been serving U.S. forces overseas for more than eight decades, and is a component of the Defense Media Activity, DMA. For further information about AFN programming or services, please contact, dma.march.afn-bcst-ctr-tv.list.affrel@mail.mil.
AFN Public Affairs, AFN Broadcast Center