Cote: Step aside, all others. Here’s why 2026 in sports belongs to Miami | Opinion
The metropolitan area of Miami-Fort Lauderdale-West Palm Beach — we go by the nickname South Florida, or “SoFla” to our closest friends — is now the sixth-most populous region in the United States with 6.5 million residents, all of whom seem to be on Interstate 95 at the same time heading south during morning rush.
Sorry about that tangent. Bad traffic is not unique to us. But you know what is?
The greatest sports year ever. It’s happening in 2026, and it is once-in-a-lifetime stuff.
Sports fans planning to buy tickets and partake of all of it are either independently wealthy or have been working a fourth job in anticipation. (Once-in-a-lifetime stuff is not cheap, folks.) But even those watching from the periphery will find it an athletic kaleidoscope of a smorgasbord like nothing we have ever experienced.
Even before ‘26, Greater Miami already had risen to the No. 8-ranked sports city internationally — third in the U.S. — by the industry-standard Swiss-based Burson ratings for 2025. And why not? Have I mentioned that the world’s most famous athlete, Lionel Messi, plays here? He led Inter Miami to the MLS Cup title. Seems to me the Miami Hurricanes made the College Football Playoff as well. Oh, and had you heard the Florida Panthers won a second straight Stanley Cup?
We trailed only New York and Los Angeles among American cities on that list, but that’s OK. Their traffic congestion and cost of living are even worse than ours. Plus, we think both cities bribed Burson for their ranking; our investigation is ongoing.
On to a rough chronology of what’s to behold in 2026 for South Florida sports fans:
▪NEW! COLLEGE FOOTBALL PLAYOFF & CHAMPIONSHIP (January): We enjoy a bigger role than ever in the CFP, with the Miami Hurricanes in it for the first time, and the 92nd annual Orange Bowl Game — a Miami tradition since 1935 — hosting a quarterfinal (Oregon vs. Texas Tech) on Thursday at Hard Rock Stadium. Then, the crescendo!: The CFP championship, the collegiate Super Bowl, is back at The Rock on Jan. 19. This will mark the 22nd time college football’s national champion has been crowned in Miami, including three of the Hurricanes’ five titles.
.jpg "WC26_RENDER_STATIC_SNOW_PR (1).jpg")
▪ NEW! NHL WINTER CLASSIC (January): The 17th iteration of hockey’s annual outdoor game will be hosted for the first time by the champion Panthers on Friday night vs. the New York Rangers at loanDepot park, where the Marlins play. It’s the first time being held in a city where it never snows (although there was a previous foray into Dallas, where it snows about as often as Jerry Jones wins a Super Bowl). Temperature for this game is expected to cooperate and dip below 60 — dead-of-winter stuff for us. The plan is to keep the ballpark’s retractable roof open, which shouldn’t be a problem for the temporary ice rink inside, in that Marlins bats have stayed cold in that place for years. Oh, and good luck seeing the puck from your $300 seat in deep center field.
▪ NEW(ISH)! UNRIVALED WOMEN’S BASKETBALL: Year 2 of the Miami-based Unrivaled women’s pro basketball league, made up almost entirely of current WNBA stars, tips off Monday and runs through March 4. The league is mostly a made-for-TV creation but again will welcome fans to its 850-seat venue in Medley near the Miami airport, the only imaginable reason you would go to Medley near the airport.
▪ GULFSTREAM HORSE RACING (January-March peak): Gulfstream’s two biggest races of the year are ahead with the 10th annual Pegasus World Cup on Jan. 24 and the 75th running of the Florida Derby on March 28. Both are Grade 1 races. Pegasus winner qualifies for the ‘26 Breeders’ Cup Classic, and the Florida Derby is a main 3-year-olds’ prep race for the Kentucky Derby.
▪ MIAMI MARATHON (January): The Miami Marathon & Half, a South Florida fixture since 2003, renews Jan. 25 with participants from all 50 states and some 80 countries. Downtown streets will be clogged with nearly 20,000 runners, or still less crowed than a typical weekday rush hour.
▪ NEW(ISH)! FORMULA E AUTO RACING (January): Formula E all-electric auto racing ran in downtown Miami in 2015 and not again in South Florida until 2025 at Homestead. Now the circuit returns in ‘26 for a Jan. 31 race on the course set up around Hard Rock Stadium.
▪ BACARDI CUP REGATTA (March): The 99th edition of Miami’s premier sailing event takes place March 1-7 off Biscayne Bay and Miami Beach, with competitors of all ages ranging from amateurs to Olympic professionals and world champions.
▪ NEW! WORLD BASEBALL CLASSIC (March): The sixth edition of what has become a major, top-level international competition including star Major Leaguers returns with Miami’s Little Havana and the Marlins ballpark the hub once again. Miami will start by hosting Pool D group play March 6-11 among the Dominican Republic, Israel, Netherlands, Nicaragua and Venezuela. We will also host the quarterfinals March 13-14, the semifinals March 15-16 — and the championship game March 17. The Marlins don’t always draw well down here, but the D.R. can fill the place. So did the previous WBC title game in ‘23, with Shohei Ohtani and Japan beating the U.S. in a 3-2 thriller.
▪ MIAMI OPEN TENNIS (March): One of the premier hard-court events for the men’s ATP and women’s WTA tennis tours returns for its annual fortnight in Miami from March 15-29 — on a stature just a level below the four majors. After a decades-long presence on gorgeous Key Biscayne the event has played since 2019 at a permanent facility built on the grounds of Hard Rock Stadium. (That facility has become a Mecca for myriad sports. It has just about everything but a winning Dolphins team.)
▪ MARLINS SEASON (March): The Miami Marlins 34th season in MLB will have Opening Day at night March 26, only the fourth evening home-opener in club history and the first since 2016.
▪ NEW! INTER MIAMI CHRISTENS NEW STADIUM (April): Reigning MLS champion Inter Miami, with Messi back for at least another season, will open league play Feb. 21 with five straight matches on the road before returning home for the long-awaited opening of the new Miami Freedom Park on April 4. It’s the long-planned, long-delayed 25,000-seat facility now soon a reality after the club spent its first six seasons playing in Fort Lauderdale at the old Lockhart Stadium site.
▪ NEW! PGA TOUR MIAMI CHAMPIONSHIP (April-May): The Miami Cadillac Championship will take place across Doral’s Blue Monster course April 30 to May 3 — a resumption of tradition. Doral hosted a Tour event continuously from 1962 through 2016 before leaving, and returns in ’26 after a nine-year absence. The new tournament is a “Signature Event,” meaning a limited field but a higher prize purse.
▪ MIAMI GRAND PRIX (May): The fifth Formula 1 Miami Grand Prix culminates May 3 around the 19-turn laps of the Miami International Autodrome, built in 2022 on (of course) the Hard Rock Stadium site. Oscar Piastri of McLaren-Mercedes won last year’s race.
▪ NEW! FIFA WORLD CUP (June-July): This is the lavish centerpiece of Miami’s 2026, with Hard Rock Stadium set to host seven men’s World Cup matches this summer. Group stage games will be held here June 15, 21, 24 and 27. A round-of-32 match will be here July 3. We will host a quarterfinal game July 11. And the “Bronze Final” (a.k.a. the third-place game) will be ours on July 18. Highlights: The June 24 match will feature world-power Brazil vs. Scotland. And the July 3 round-of-32 match is quite likely to feature Argentina, led, of course, by Messi.
▪ HURRICANES FOOTBALL SEASON (August): The ‘26 schedule starting in late August or early September will find expectations amped with UM coming off a College Football Playoff season for the first time.
▪ DOLPHINS SEASON (September): The Miami Dolphins’ 61st season kicks off next September, after training open in the summer. Will Quinn Ewers be the starting quarterback? Will the Fins win a playoff game for the first time since 2000? Never dull with King Sport.
▪ PANTHERS SEASON (October): Florida’s 33rd NHL season will find the Cats trying to regain momentum from those two straight Stanley Cups wins.
▪ HEAT SEASON (October): Will the Heat’s 39th season see a return to championship form? Will it follow a blockbuster summer trade? (Yeah, probably not on that last one.)
▪ NEW! NASCAR CHAMPIONSHIP RACE (November): The NASCAR playoffs will culminate with the final four drivers competing for the season championship Nov. 8 at Homestead-Miami Speedway. Homestead has hosted a race in the premier Cup Series every year since 1999, and hosted championship weekend 18 straight seasons from 2002-19. Now, ‘26 will mark the championship race’s most-welcome return to Homestead after a six-year absence.
▪ NEW(ISH!) E1 POWERBOAT RACING (November): The E1 Powerboat Series of electric offshore racing comes to Miami on Nov. 15. It’s a new sport in only its third season overall and second year in Miami.
In summary: South Florida will have just about everything sports can offer in 2026.
Downside: All those fans flying in for all these events won’t help our traffic congestion a single bit.
This story was originally published December 30, 2025 at 2:25 PM.
