More Sports & EventsBeyond Football: The Big Events of Autumn 2026
Football may dominate the headlines from August onward, but some of the best live-sport experiences of 2026 are happening everywhere except a football stadium this autumn. Here's what deserves a place in your calendar.
The US Open — New York at full volume
The year's final Grand Slam takes over Flushing Meadows from late August, with Fan Week from 25 August — including the — and the . The is the loudest, latest-running major in tennis — night sessions at Arthur Ashe Stadium regularly stretch past midnight, and the city hums around it.
Which session to pick
First-week day sessions are the connoisseur's choice: multiple matches, access across the grounds, and stars on the smaller and courts, sometimes just meters away. Night sessions at Arthur Ashe are the marquee experience — one big stage, prime-time atmosphere.
Formula 1 — Europe says goodbye, Madrid says hello
The season enters its decisive stretch with a run of very different race weekends:
A seaside circuit and grandstands packed in orange.
The Temple of Speed, and the sport's most emotional podium if a Ferrari is anywhere near the front.
The headline act: a brand-new grand prix on the new Madring circuit, Formula 1's first race in the Spanish capital. New races sell on novelty — this is the one to say you were at.
Walls, castle sections and chaos; Baku rarely delivers a dull race.
The original night race, around a floodlit Marina Bay — as much a city festival as a sporting event.
And the nights in between
Autumn is also when the returns in mid-September — worth remembering if your trip lands in a city with a European fixture that week. A tennis session, a race weekend or a floodlit European night can anchor a trip just as well as a league match — sometimes better, because the dates are fixed months in advance and never move for television.
Pick the event, and we'll handle the hardest part: getting you in. Autumn is close — the best seats go first.