How to watch the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee finals live for free

A new National Spelling Bee champion will be crowned tonight.

After a week of preliminaries, quarterfinals and semifinals, the nine best young spellers in the country will compete in the finals of the National Spelling Bee for the Scripps Cup.

The 98th annual Bee has been moved back into Washington, D.C., after many years at a convention center in suburban Maryland, and some changes to the broadcast will inject new and exciting energy into one of the country’s longest-standing traditions.

This year, ESPN NFL analyst Mina Kimes will host the finals broadcast; Kimes is also a recent “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion who raised $1 million for the SELAH Neighborhood Homeless Coalition throughout her run on the show.

To qualify for the Scripps National Spelling Bee, spellers must first be school or regional champions. All of the competitors are age 15 or younger, and none have passed beyond eighth grade. This year, 256 spellers entered the Bee. Of them, 64 are returning from the 2025 competition, among them are three of the nine finalists.

Scripps National Spelling Bee 2026 date

The live finals of the 2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee are tonight, May 28, at 8 p.m. ET.

Scripps National Spelling Bee channel

The finals of the National Spelling Bee will air on ION Television.

How to watch and stream the Scripps National Spelling Bee

If you don’t have cable, you’ll need a live TV streaming service to stream the Spelling Bee finals for free.

DIRECTV is our top pick for watching television live for free — its five-day free trial includes ION Television. When the trial is over, you’ll pay as low as $34.99/month, since ION is included in the MyEntertainment Genre Pack and every premium package.

How many spellers are in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee?

Nine spellers will compete in the finals of the Scripps National Spelling Bee.

They are: Oliver Halkett (Los Angeles, California); Zwe Spacetime (Washington, D.C.); Kushi Gottimukkala (Charlotte, North Carolina); Avishka Dudala (Dallas, Texas); Aiden Meng (Danville, California); Shrey Parikh (San Bernardino, California); Sarv Dharavane (Tucker, Georgia); Ishaan Gupta (Jersey City, New Jersey) and Logan Bailey (Houston, Texas).

2026 Scripps National Spelling Bee host

Earlier this month, the Scripps National Spelling Bee announced that ESPN personality and “Celebrity Jeopardy!” champion Mina Kimes will be the new host of the Spelling Bee finals. The Bee’s media guide notes that Kimes is a former school spelling bee champion herself.

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This article was written by Angela Tricarico, Commerce Streaming Reporter for Post Wanted Shopping, Page Six, and Decider.com. Angela keeps readers up to date with cord-cutter-friendly deals, and information on how to watch your favorite sports teams, TV shows, and movies on every streaming service. Not only does Angela test and compare the streaming services she writes about to ensure readers are getting the best prices, but she’s also a superfan specializing in the intersection of shopping, tech, sports, and pop culture. When she’s not writing about (or watching) TV, movies, and sports, she’s also keeping up on the underrated perfume dupes at Bath & Body Works and testing headphones. Prior to joining Decider and The New York Post in 2023, she wrote about streaming and consumer tech at Insider Reviews.