Its that time of year. The sporting events calendar is about to really start rolling! Here is a way to track what comes next from September 2026 through August 2027, with dates, venues, and links to our full travel guides. Whether you’re planning one bucket-list trip or mapping out a year of games, this is the full calendar in one place — and unlike the schedule listings you’ll find elsewhere, every venue here links to a guide covering seating, parking, and where to stay.
Jump to a month, or start with the headline events below.
Quick Guide: Championship Dates and Venues
When is Super Bowl LXI? February 14, 2027, at SoFi Stadium in Los Angeles.
Where is the 2027 College Football Playoff National Championship? January 25, 2027, at Allegiant Stadium in Las Vegas.
Where is the 2027 Final Four? Ford Field in Detroit, in early April 2027.
Where is the 2027 MLB All-Star Game? Wrigley Field in Chicago, July 13, 2027.
Where is the 2027 NBA All-Star Game? The Mortgage Matchup Center in Phoenix, February 19-21, 2027.
Where is the 2027 Champions League Final? The Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid, June 5, 2027.
Where is the 2027 Women’s World Cup? Brazil, June 24 to July 25, 2027.
Where is the 2027 Rugby World Cup? Australia, October 1 to November 13, 2027.
Where is the 2027 Ryder Cup? Adare Manor in Ireland, September 17-19, 2027.
If you’re looking for tickets to any event over the next year, check out our partner Vivid Seats.
September 2026: NFL Kickoff, US Open Tennis and MLB Pennant Races
The busiest month on the calendar. Football starts, baseball’s playoff races tighten, and hockey and basketball open camp.
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| US Open Tennis finals | September 12-13, 2026 | Flushing Meadows, New York |
| NFL Kickoff Game | September 10, 2026 | Lumen Field |
| NFL Week 1 | September 13, 2026 | All 30 NFL stadiums |
| Solheim Cup (golf) | Mid-September | Netherlands |
| College football conference play opens | All month | College football venues |
| UEFA Champions League league phase begins | Mid-September | European grounds |
| MLB regular season ends | Late September | All 30 ballparks |
| AFL Grand Final (approx.) | Late September | Melbourne Cricket Ground, Australia |
| NHL training camps open | Mid-September | NHL arenas |
Travel note: NFL Week 1 and the final weeks of the MLB regular season overlap in every two-team market. Chicago, New York, Philadelphia and Denver all let you stack a Saturday ballgame and a Sunday football game in one weekend — and September hotel rates haven’t hit playoff pricing yet.
October 2026: The World Series, NBA Tipoff and NHL Opening Night
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| MLB Wild Card Series | First week | Higher seeds’ ballparks |
| NHL regular season opens | Early October | All NHL arenas |
| NRL Grand Final (approx.) | Early October | Accor Stadium, Sydney |
| MLB Division Series and LCS | Mid-October | Participating ballparks |
| NBA regular season tips off | Late October | All NBA arenas |
| World Series | Late October | Pennant winners’ ballparks |
| College football conference races | All month | CFB venues |
The single best month to be a sports traveler. Late October is the only stretch of the year when baseball, football, basketball and hockey are all live simultaneously. In Chicago, Detroit and Denver, three sports in one weekend is genuinely doable.
November 2026: College Football Rivalry Week and NFL Thanksgiving
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| NASCAR Cup Series championship (approx.) | Early November | Phoenix Raceway |
| MLS Cup Playoffs | All month | MLS venues |
| College football rivalry week | Late November | CFB venues |
| NFL Thanksgiving games | November 26, 2026 | Ford Field, Detroit and AT&T Stadium, Arlington |
| NBA and NHL regular season | All month | All arenas |
Rivalry week is the hardest ticket in college football. For an Iron Bowl, an Ohio State–Michigan or a Bedlam-style game, book hotels six months out. Rooms in college towns sell out long before tickets do — and they sell out on the date, not the matchup.
December 2026: Bowl Season, CFP First Round and the MLB Lockout Deadline
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| MLB CBA expires | December 1 | League-wide — see below |
| CFB conference championships | First weekend | Neutral sites |
| MLS Cup | Early December | Higher seed’s stadium |
| Heisman Trophy ceremony | Mid-December | New York City |
| Army-Navy Game | December 12, 2026 | MetLife Stadium, East Rutherford, NJ |
| Bowl season begins | Mid-December | CFB venues |
| College Football Playoff first round | Mid-late December | Campus sites |
| NBA Christmas Day games | December 25 | NBA arenas |
Baseball fans, plan around this one. The MLB collective bargaining agreement expires December 1, 2026, and a lockout is widely expected. The last expiration, in December 2021, produced a lockout that ran into March and pushed Opening Day back a week. If you’re booking a spring training trip or a 2027 Opening Day trip, hold off on non-refundable reservations until there’s a deal.
Christmas Day Sports Schedule 2026: NBA and NFL Games, Times and TV
December 25 is the densest single day on the sports calendar. The NBA has released five Christmas Day matchups — headlined by an NBA Finals rematch between the champion New York Knicks and the San Antonio Spurs — and the NFL’s Christmas triple-header runs alongside them. Eight games, ten and a half hours, no gaps.
| Time (ET) | League | Matchup | TV | Venue |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 12:00 p.m. | NBA | Spurs at Knicks | ABC | Madison Square Garden |
| 1:00 p.m. | NFL | Packers at Bears | Netflix | Soldier Field, Chicago |
| 2:30 p.m. | NBA | Heat at Celtics | ABC | TD Garden, Boston |
| 4:30 p.m. | NFL | Bills at Broncos | Netflix | Empower Field at Mile High, Denver |
| 5:00 p.m. | NBA | 76ers at Lakers | ESPN | Crypto.com Arena, Los Angeles |
| 8:00 p.m. | NBA | Thunder at Timberwolves | ABC | Target Center, Minneapolis |
| 8:15 p.m. | NFL | Rams at Seahawks | Fox | Lumen Field, Seattle |
| 10:30 p.m. | NBA | Nuggets at Warriors | ABC | Chase Center, San Francisco |
If you’re going in person rather than watching: Christmas Day seats run above a normal regular-season game in every one of these markets, but the ticket is the easy part — it’s the flights that hurt. December 24 and 26 are two of the highest-fare travel days of the year. Driving distance is the play, and several of these markets have a second team in town if you want to stack another game on the 26th.
January 2027: The Rose Bowl, CFP National Championship and NFL Playoffs
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| Rose Bowl Game | January 1 | Rose Bowl, Pasadena |
| NHL Winter Classic (approx.) | January 1 | Outdoor venue, TBA |
| CFP quarterfinals and semifinals | Early-mid January | Bowl sites |
| NFL Wild Card Weekend | Mid-January | Higher seeds’ stadiums |
| Australian Open | Mid-late January | Melbourne Park, Australia |
| NFL Divisional Round | Late January | Higher seeds’ stadiums |
| CFP National Championship — | January 25, 2027 | Allegiant Stadium, Las Vegas |
Vegas in late January is the easiest championship trip on this calendar. The title game lands in a city with more hotel inventory than any other host in the rotation, which keeps room rates far saner than a Super Bowl market — and there’s a full slate of other events in town the same week.
February 2027: Super Bowl LXI, NBA All-Star Weekend and the Daytona 500
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| NFL Conference Championships | January 31, 2027 | Higher seeds’ stadiums |
| Pro Bowl Games | Early February | TBA |
| Super Bowl LXI | February 14, 2027 | SoFi Stadium, Los Angeles |
| Daytona 500 | February 21, 2027 | Daytona International Speedway |
| NBA All-Star Weekend | February 19-21, 2027 | Mortgage Matchup Center, Phoenix |
| College basketball conference play | All month | Arenas nationwide |
| MLB spring training opens (pending CBA) | Mid-February | Arizona and Florida |
Two marquee events, one week, one region. Super Bowl LXI in Los Angeles on February 14 and NBA All-Star in Phoenix five days later are a six-hour drive apart. If you can get tickets to both, it’s the best two-event trip of the year.
March 2027: March Madness, MLB Opening Day and the MLS Season Start
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| Conference tournaments | First two weeks | Arenas nationwide |
| NHL trade deadline | Early March | — |
| Selection Sunday | Mid-March | — |
| NCAA Tournament first and second rounds | Mid-March | Regional host arenas |
| MLS season opens | Late February-March | MLS venues |
| Sweet 16 and Elite Eight | Late March | Regional sites |
| Formula 1 season opens (approx.) | Early March | TBA |
| MLB Opening Day (pending CBA) | Late March | All 30 ballparks |
March Madness first-round sites are the value play in college basketball. Eight teams, two days, one arena, and a ticket that costs a fraction of a Final Four seat.
April 2027: The Final Four, The Masters and NBA/NHL Playoffs
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| Men’s Final Four | April 3 & 5, 2027 | Ford Field, Detroit |
| Women’s Final Four | Early April 2027 | Nationwide Arena, Columbus, Ohio |
| The Masters (approx.) | Second week | Augusta National |
| NBA regular season ends / Play-In | Mid-April | NBA arenas |
| NHL regular season ends | Mid-April | NHL arenas |
| NBA and NHL playoffs begin | Mid-late April | Higher seeds’ arenas |
| NFL Draft | April 29 – May 1, 2027 | National Mall, Washington D.C. |
April is the densest month on the calendar. The Final Four, the Masters, the opening rounds of two playoff brackets and a full baseball schedule all land inside three weeks.
May 2027: The Kentucky Derby, Indy 500 and Monaco Grand Prix
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| NBA and NHL conference semifinals | Early May | Participating arenas |
| Kentucky Derby | May 1, 2027 | Churchill Downs, Louisville |
| PGA Championship | May 17-23, 2027 | PGA Frisco, Texas |
| Preakness Stakes | Third Saturday | Pimlico, Baltimore |
| Conference finals | Mid-late May | NBA Arenas |
| Premier League season ends | Late May | English grounds |
| Monaco Grand Prix (approx.) | Late May | Circuit de Monaco |
| Indianapolis 500 | May 30, 2027 | Indianapolis Motor Speedway |
Derby weekend books earliest of anything on this list. Louisville hotels go a year out and triple in price. If it’s on your list for 2027, start now.
June 2027: The NBA Finals, Stanley Cup and Champions League Final
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| NBA Finals | Early-mid June | Finalists’ arenas |
| Stanley Cup Final | Early-mid June | Finalists’ arenas |
| UEFA Champions League Final | June 5, 2027 | Riyadh Air Metropolitano, Madrid |
| Belmont Stakes | June 4-5, 2027 | Belmont Park, New York |
| NBA Draft | Late June | TBA |
| US Open (golf) | June 14-20, 2027 | Pebble Beach, California |
| FIFA Women’s World Cup begins | June 24, 2027 | Brazil |
| College World Series | Mid-late June | College World Series Guide| Charles Schwab Field |
| Wimbledon begins | Late June | Wimbledon Guide |
Madrid, the first week of June. The Champions League final at the Metropolitano is the biggest single-match ticket in club football and the one date worth building an entire European trip around. Our Riyadh Air Metropolitano guide covers seating, transit and matchday logistics.
July 2027: Wimbledon, the MLB All-Star Game and the Women’s World Cup Final
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| Wimbledon finals | Mid-July | All England Club, London |
| MLB All-Star Game | July 13, 2027 | Wrigley Field, Chicago |
| The Open Championship | July 15-18, 2027 | St Andrews, Scotland |
| Tour de France | All month | France |
| Women’s World Cup Final | July 25, 2027 | Maracana, Rio de Janeiro (venue expected) |
| NFL training camps open | Late July | Team facilities |
Wrigley in July is a bucket-list week. The Cubs have hosted the All-Star Game three times — 1947, 1962 and 1990 — and Wrigley will become one of only three ballparks to host a fourth. Wrigleyville hotel inventory is thin and books instantly. Start with our Wrigley Field guide.
August 2027: College Football Openers, Premier League Kickoff and the US Open
| Event | Date | Venue & Location |
|---|---|---|
| MLB pennant races | All month | All 30 ballparks |
| Premier League season opens | Mid-August | English grounds |
| NFL preseason | All month | NFL stadiums |
| College football Week 0 and Week 1 | Late August | CFB venues |
| US Open tennis begins | Late August | Flushing Meadows, New York |
Looking Ahead: Sporting Event Calendar Beyond August 2027
| Event | Date | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Ryder Cup | September 13-19, 2027 | Adare Manor, Limerick, Ireland |
| Rugby World Cup | October 1 – November 13, 2027 | Australia |
| 2028 Champions League Final | May 2028 | Allianz Arena, Munich |
| Summer Olympics | July 14-30, 2028 | Los Angeles |
How to Plan Your Sports Travel Year
A few patterns worth knowing before you pick dates:
Cheapest months to see a game: September and March. Baseball is winding down and basketball hasn’t peaked, so secondary-market prices soften across the board.
Most expensive weeks: Super Bowl week, Masters week, Derby weekend, and the days around any Game 7.
Best value championship: the College World Series in Omaha. Ten days of baseball, a walkable downtown, and ticket prices a fraction of any pro championship. Our Omaha guide has the details.
Book hotels before tickets for anything at a fixed venue — Augusta, Omaha, Louisville, Indianapolis. Small host cities sell out on the date, not the matchup.
The two-sport weekend is underrated. Any city with an NFL and an MLB team gives you a Saturday-Sunday double in September, and any city with both an NBA and NHL tenant gives you one all winter. Our arena guides note which venues are shared.
Browse all our venue guides by sport: NFL · College Football · MLB · NBA & NHL Arenas · World Football
Written by Brad Richards, Founder of Gameday Guides. This guide includes insights from personal visits as well as updated info from team sources, fan forums, and stadium policies. We aim to help you plan with confidence — enjoy your gameday.