Select events at the Milan Cortina Olympics are already underway, but the "start" of the Olympics is always associated with the Opening Ceremony. The event, which kicks off every Olympics, often features massive displays of pageantry by the host country, celebrating the history of the games and highlighting athletes from each country.

While an impressive show is expected Friday, the Milan Cortina Games will do a few things differently during the Opening Ceremony. For the first time in Olympics history, the event will be spread across multiple locations. The main ceremony will be held at Milan's San Siro Olympic Stadium. At the same time, Cortina d’Ampezzo — one of the game's host cities — will also stage a ceremony of its own.

With the Winter Olympics 2026 Opening Ceremony nearly underway, here's everything you need to know about the festivities at the Milan Cortina games.

When is the Opening Ceremony?

The Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony will take place Friday, Feb. 6, at roughly 2 p.m. ET. It will be 8 p.m. in Italy when the Opening Ceremony kicks off. The entire event is expected to take roughly three hours.

Olympics Opening Ceremony schedule

Organizers keep the exact schedule for the Opening Ceremony a secret as a way to surprise viewers. Opening Ceremonies at the Olympics typically feature a parade of athletes and flagbearers — Erin Jackson and Frank Del Duca for the Unites States — and the lighting of the Olympic cauldron. There will be plenty of other surprises thrown into the ceremony, but there is no set schedule of events once the opening ceremony begins.

What time is the Olympic cauldron lighting?

There's no exact time set for the Olympic cauldron lighting, but they — yes, there are two, one in Milan, the other in Cortina — will likely be lit toward the end of the opening ceremony. With the Opening Ceremony expected to last about three hours, the cauldrons will likely be lit in the last 30-45 minutes of the event. 

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Why are there two Olympic cauldrons at the 2026 games?

History will be made at the 2026 Milan Cortina Olympics. During the Opening Ceremony Friday, Olympic torches will be used to light two separate cauldrons, the first time that's ever happened in the history of the event. 

The lightings, which will take place simultaneously, will occur in two separate locations. One is located in Milano at the Arco della Pace. The second is located in Cortina d’Ampezzo in Piazza Dibona. Olympic organizers decided on two cauldrons as a way to show harmony and unity between both host cities of the 2026 Olympics. 

The cauldrons are meant to evoke the work of Leonardo da Vinci, particularly his knots, which appeared in his paintings and in his manuscripts. 

Who will perform at the Opening Ceremony?

Mariah Carey is among the performers who will appear at the ceremony. Carey is a six-time Grammy award winner and a member of the Songwriters Hall of Fame. In addition to Carey, Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli will also perform at the Opening Ceremony. Chinese pianst Lang Lang and Italian actor Sabrina Impacciatore will also perform at the event. 

How to watch the Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony

The Milan Cortina Opening Ceremony will air on NBC and stream on Peacock. The event will be carried live on Peacock around 2 p.m. ET. It will then air in primetime on NBC at 8 p.m. ET.

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One of baseball's most consistent and durable pitchers has his first big free-agent contract. Framber Valdez reportedly agreed to a three-year, $115 million deal with the Detroit Tigers on Wednesday, according to ESPN's Jeff Passan.

Valdez, 32, is coming off a season in which he posted a 3.66 ERA over 192 innings. By some measures, it was the lefty's worst year in the majors since he became a regular in 2020.

While it's always something of a concern to see a player experience decline just before hitting the market, Valdez's 2025 was strong overall, a nod to his consistency over the past six seasons. Since becoming a regular member of the Houston Astros' rotation in 2020, Valdez has posted ERAs between 2.82 and 3.66 in six straight years. He has put up strong innings totals over that period as well, ranking fifth among pitchers with 973 innings pitched since 2020.

Valdez is a hard-thrower but not one who typically racks up big strikeout totals. The lefty usually relies on a devastating sinker, which induces a ton of grounders and double-play balls. When he needs a strikeout, he uses his big, sweeping curveball to generate whiffs. 

That combination has resulted in plenty of success for Valdez, who has two All-Star appearances and three top-10 Cy Young finishes under his belt. He also played a significant role in the Astros winning the 2022 World Series. That postseason, Valdez posted a sterling 1.44 ERA over four starts, striking out 33 over 25 innings.

Despite all that success, Valdez faced plenty of questions entering free agency. Given his age, lower strikeout totals and reliance on the defense behind him, Valdez isn't always viewed as a top-tier ace. While he got off to a fantastic start in 2025, he didn't help his free-agent case by floundering down the stretch. In the second half of the season, Valdez stumbled to a 5.20 ERA over 71 innings. Was that a blip on the radar or a sign of things to come?

Given Valdez's consistency throughout his career thus far, the answer is likely the former. While his second-half struggles were concerning, his "bad" year was still better than what many pitchers are capable of producing at their best.

As long as Valdez's sinker maintains its bite and his arm holds up, he should be able to provide near-ace numbers going forward. He walks a finer line than most top-of-the-rotation starters due to his limitations, but his track record suggests he'll bounce back following a down year — by his standards — in 2025.

The Oklahoma City Thunder easily defeated the Orlando Magic on Tuesday, but the win came with a potentially significant cost. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander sustained an abdominal injury during the contest, and will be out at least through the All-Star break due to the issue, per ESPN's Shams Charania. 

The severity of the injury is not known at the moment. The team plans to re-evaluate Gilgeous-Alexander after the break, meaning he'll miss — at minimum — five games before a possible return.

It's unclear when Gilgeous-Alexander sustained the injury. The 27-year-old turned in a strong performance during the Thunder's 128-92 win over the Magic on Tuesday, scoring 20 points and dishing out nine assists in nearly 28 minutes on the court. 

This story will be updated.

In 2025, the Miami Dolphins and Washington Commanders played the first-ever NFL game in Spain. The whole event went well enough that the NFL is going to do it all again in 2026.

The league announced Monday it would return to Spain for another international game next season. It's part of a multi-year partnership with the country, meaning the league will likely play multiple games in Spain over the next couple years. 

The 2026 game will be played at Bernabéu Stadium, which hosted the Commanders and Dolphins this season. That contest, which took place in November, went to overtime, with the Dolphins picking up a narrow 16-13 win over the Commanders. The NFL has not announced which teams will take part in the Spain game in 2026.

With the announcement, the NFL now has seven international games on its schedule for the 2026 season. The league will play one game in Australia, one game in Brazil, one game in Germany, three games in the U.K. and one game in Spain. The NFL has confirmed the Los Angeles Rams are one of the teams that will play in Australia and the Jacksonville Jaguars are one of the teams playing in London. But the league has not announced additional teams for its international games next season. The NFL has also not announced dates or times for any international game in 2026.

The league first starting playing international games in 2007, when the Dolphins faced the New York Giants at Wembley Stadium in London. Since then, the league has essentially had at least one international game in every season, though no international games took place during the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020.

The NFL has made an attempt to expand the countries in which it holds games, with Brazil, Ireland and Spain all being added to the mix since 2024. 

Tennessee managed to take down Auburn on Saturday, but things got a little too close for comfort for Volunteers coach Rick Barnes. Following the contest, Barnes attempted to make light of some of his team's late-game mistakes ... and immediately regretted it.

While giving credit to Auburn, Barnes took issue with some of Tennessee's passes down the stretch. He added, "Sometimes, I wonder if my guys are betting on games," and immediately realized that was not the best thing to say.

Barnes' response read:

"At the end of the game, some of the passes that we throw, I don't know what to say other than sometimes I wonder if my guys are betting on games. I shouldn't say that. Erase that. I'm just wondering what's happening. Because I know we're too good of players to do that."

At that point, Barnes may have looked over at Tennessee's communications team before uttering, "Was that a bad ... I apologize. I shouldn't have said that. But that fact is, we've gotta get smarter."

Barnes was joking when he made the original statement about gambling, which drew laughs from those at the press conference. While he clearly didn't mean any malice, he quickly realized the error of jokingly accusing his players of betting on games. 

With the rise and normalization of legalized sports gambling, there have already been a handful of NCAA betting scandals involving current and former players. In September, players from Fresno State and San Jose State were banned for their alleged involvement in a gambling scandal. That same month, the NCAA said it was seeking additional sports-betting violations against 13 former players from six different schools. 

Given those scandals and the severity of the issue, Barnes knew he screwed up. He quickly backtracked, was apologetic and made it clear he was joking, but only after he had already delivered one heck of a quote.