In today's edition: Big year of sports ahead, Stafford wins MVP, Skubal's big day, Olympics watchlist, Super Bowl pregame reading, photo finish, and more.
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🚨 Headlines
🏀 Deadline day: While the final day was a bit of snoozefest (including Giannis Antetokounmpo staying put), we did see a plethora of moves leading up to Thursday's NBA trade deadline. How'd your team do?
⚾️ Skubal's big day: Two-time defending AL Cy Young winner Tarik Skubal won his arbitration hearing against the Tigers on Thursday and was awarded an arbitration-record $32 million contract for 2026 before he becomes a free agent at season's end.
🏈 NFL international: The 49ers and Rams will play in the first NFL game in Australia (Melbourne) next season, while the Cowboys will head to Brazil (Rio de Janeiro) for their first international game in 12 years.
⚽️ Minnesota lands big name: Global superstar James Rodríguez, captain of the Colombian National Team, is nearing an agreement to join MLS' Minnesota United.
⚾️ Padres for sale? The Padres are moving closer to the franchise going up for sale, with opening bids expected to be submitted by the end of February, per The Athletic. One of the people interested in bidding? Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
📆 2026: A sports year like no other
The 2026 sports calendar is bursting at the seams all year, but nothing quite compares to what we're about to experience these next couple months. Get ready for the best stretch of sports… ever?
66 days of ecstasy: The madness begins this weekend with NBC's overlapping coverage of the Olympics and the Super Bowl, kicking off a 66-day fever dream that features well over a dozen major sporting events passing the torch between one another without coming up for air.
🥇 Feb. 6-22: Milan Cortina Olympics
🏈 Feb. 8: Super Bowl LX
🏀 Feb. 15: NBA All-Star Game
🏁 Feb. 15: Daytona 500
⚽️ Feb. 21: MLS Season Opener
🎾 March 1-15: Indian Wells
⚾️ March 5-17: World Baseball Classic
🥇 March 6-15: Paralympics
🏎️ March 7: F1 Season Opener
⛳️ March 12-15: The Players
🏀 March 19-22: March Madness Opening Weekend
⚾️ March 25-26: MLB Opening Day
🏀 April 3-6: Final Four
⚽️ April 7-8: Champions League Quarterfinals
⛳️ April 9-12: The Masters
Plus: We've also got the Six Nations Rugby Championship (Feb. 5-March 14), the T20 Cricket World Cup (Feb. 7-March 18), the World Athletics Indoor Championships (March 20-22), the Women's Champions League quarterfinals (March 23-25) and more over the next couple months.
Looking ahead: The rest of the year has all the usual suspects, including the NBA and NHL playoffs, tennis and golf majors, and of course football in the fall. But are we forgetting something? Oh, that's right — the United States is co-hosting the biggest World Cup in history this summer.
The 2026 World Cup, the first on U.S. soil since 1994, joins the Olympics and World Baseball Classic as major non-annual events that make this year in sports particularly special.
In fact, it's the first time since 2006's inaugural World Baseball Classic that all three of those events are being held in the same year.
The result is a jam-packed slate — week after week, month after month — full of the annual offerings we all know and love, mixed in with marquee events that only come around so often.
I mean, think about this: On the second weekend of June, the USMNT's World Cup opener coincides with the Stanley Cup Final, the NBA Finals, the College World Series and a UFC Fight Night on the White House Lawn. The very next weekend, you'll potentially be watching the USMNT's second World Cup match, Game 7 of the NBA Finals and the second round of the U.S. Open… all on the same day.
Bottom line: The sports calendar typically follows a reliable rhythm of peaks and valleys, giving fans time to catch their breath. Not this year. 2026 is all about unstoppable momentum, and the fun starts today with the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony (2pm ET, NBC).
🏈 NFL Honors: Stafford wins MVP
Rams QB Matthew Stafford won his first NFL MVP Award on Thursday night at the annual NFL Honors show, beating out Patriots QB Drake Maye in one of the closest races ever.
The final tally: Stafford had 366 points and 24 first-place votes. Maye was right behind with 361 points and 23 first-place votes. Others receiving first-place votes: Josh Allen (2) and Justin Herbert* (1).
It's the closest MVP vote since 2003, when Peyton Manning and Steve McNair were co-winners of the award.
Stafford joins Y.A. Tittle (1963) and Rich Gannon (2002) as the oldest first-time MVPs, all at age 37.
Coming back for more: Stafford committed to return for his 18th season amid retirement speculation. "I'll see you guys next year," he said. "Hopefully I'm not at this event and we're preparing for another game at SoFi," which will host next year's Super Bowl.
More NFL Honors:
Awards: Jaxon Smith-Njigba, Seahawks (OPOY); Myles Garrett, Browns (DPOY); Mike Vrabel, Patriots (Coach); Christian McCaffrey, 49ers (Comeback Player); Tetairoa McMillan, Panthers (OROY); Carson Schwesinger, Browns (DROY); Joe Thuney, Bears (Protector)
Hall of Fame: Drew Brees (QB), Larry Fitzgerald (WR), Luke Kuechly (LB), Adam Vinatieri (K) and Roger Craig (RB) were announced as the five-man 2026 Hall of Fame Class. As previously reported, Bill Belichick and Robert Kraft didn't make the cut this year.
Man of the Year: The night concluded with Commanders LB Bobby Wagner being named the Walter Payton Man of the Year for philanthropy and community impact. He gave a wonderful speech honoring his late mother, Phenia.
*A voter explains himself: "I was the Justin Herbert vote," Sam Monson posted on X. "The guy had the worst offensive line in the NFL all season and despite that he was working miracles in almost every single game. Stafford's OL became 2/5ths as bad as Herbert's for 5 minutes and he became a turnover howitzer. He embodied 'value.'"
📺 Weekend Watchlist: Olympics edition
🇮🇹 Opening Ceremony
After getting a taste of the Winter Games over the past two days, the Milan Cortina Olympics begin in earnest today with the Opening Ceremony. If you can't catch it live (2pm ET, NBC), it will also air in primetime (8pm, NBC).
Details: The primary venue is San Siro, home of Inter and AC Milan, but the Parade of Nations will also take place in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Predazzo and Livigno to represent the geographical breadth of these Games. Mary Carillo, Terry Gannon and snowboarding legend Shaun White will host, while Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli are among the musical performers.
🎿 Downhill Skiing
The eyes of the world will be on Lindsey Vonn as she takes the starting gate for Sunday's downhill medal event in Cortina (5:30am, USA) and tries skiing on a freshly torn ACL. The three-time Olympic medalist — including downhill gold in 2010 — posted a video of herself doing an intense workout on Thursday. "I'm not giving up," she wrote.
Meanwhile, for the men: Tomorrow's downhill event (5:30am, USA) represents the first medal event of these Games. Prepare for chaos at the notoriously difficult Stelvio track in Bormio, which has already seen multiple crashes during training runs.
⛸️ Figure Skating, Team Event
The Team Event kicks off the figure skating program at the Milano Ice Skating Arena, where the eight segments of the competition — short program (men's, women's and pairs), free skate (men's, women's and pairs), rhythm dance and free dance — will run all weekend before medals are awarded on Sunday (1:30pm, USA) based on cumulative points.
Who to watch: Team USA are the reigning gold medalists, though the only returning members of that team are married couple Madison Chock and Evan Bates (ice dance). Newcomers include Ilia Malinin, 21, the only skater to ever land a quadruple axel in competition, and Alysa Liu, 20, winner of last year's world championship.
More medal events: In addition to what's listed above, there are 10 more medal events this weekend as part of a record 116 total coming in these Olympics.
🎿 Cross-Country Skiing: Women's Skiathlon (Sat. 7am, NBC); Men's Skiathlon (Sun. 6:45am, USA) … Athletes race 10km using the classic technique and 10km in freestyle.
⛸️ Speed Skating: Women's 3000m (Sat. 10am, NBC); Men's 5000m (Sun. 10am, Peacock) … 7.5 laps around the 400-meter oval for the women, 12.5 laps for the men.
🏂 Snowboarding: Men's Big Air Final (Sat. 1:30pm, USA); Men's and Women's Parallel Giant Slalom Finals (Sun. 7am, USA) … The former is about maximizing hang time to pull off tricks, while the latter is a head-to-head race.
🎯 Biathlon: Mixed 4x6km Relay (Sun. 8am, Peacock) … Each athlete (two men and two women per team) completes three laps around the 2km track.
🛷 Luge: Men's Singles Final (Sun. 12:30pm, USA) … Racers reach speeds up to 90 mph while riding on their backs.
⛷️ Ski Jumping: Women's Normal Hill (Sat. 11:45am, Peacock) … Athletes fly roughly 105 meters on this smaller hill compared to 140 meters on the larger hill.
Plus: Mixed Doubles Curling and Women's Hockey continue their preliminaries, with the U.S. women's hockey team scheduled to face Finland on Saturday (10:40am, USA), as long as the Finnish team has recovered from its norovirus outbreak by then.
🏈 Super Bowl: Pregame reading
Nate Tice: Super Bowl prop bets that could also play a huge role in crowning a champion
The Super Bowl encourages coaching staffs to empty the clip with staple concepts, gadget plays and tendency breakers. Through my film and data study, I wanted to share some of my favorite wagers and how the game plans of the Patriots and Seahawks can lead to a potential payday. Or at least some personal entertainment.
Jori Epstein: To understand Sam Darnold's rise, first understand his fall
Darnold is set to become the third QB in NFL history to start a Super Bowl after playing for five-plus teams in his NFL career, and the second to start in a season opener for four-plus teams then later start in a Super Bowl. By Wednesday, Seahawks players and coaches were preaching about his resilience in their sleep, understanding the disbelief surrounding one of the unlikeliest NFL paths in recent years.
Frank Schwab: How did the Patriots rebuild so fast?
Bill Belichick did many great things for the New England Patriots. But when they parted ways, he left the roster in shambles. That's a big reason why they went 4-13 in 2023 (Belichick's last season) and also in 2024 (Jerod Mayo's first). Then they hired Mike Vrabel and showed everyone that you can turn a bad roster into an AFC champion with one aggressive offseason.
Charles Robinson: Did Bad Bunny's 'ICE out' Grammy message tease his halftime show? The NFL will find out when we do
From the moment of Bad Bunny's appointment, Roger Goodell and the league's owners were stepping into a dispute with a segment of their own fan base. It would instantly be a political lightning rod in a country that has a mountain full of them. The reality is that the NFL doesn't really know for sure what is going to happen on Sunday. Nor do we as an audience.
🇺🇸 Olympics trivia
Question: Team USA has medaled in every Winter Olympics sport except for one. Which of the following is that sport?
(A) Luge
(B) Biathlon
(C) Nordic Combined
(D) Curling
Answer at the bottom.
📸 Photo finish
Sliding into the weekend like…
_________________________________________________________________________________
Trivia answer: Biathlon
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Category: General Sports
