CR MAG

The league that never sleeps.

If you thought theNFLwas about to slow down and go into hibernation for a few months before the offseason kicks into high gear, think again. The league might only play meaningful games for just over five months a year, but the offseason is a different beast.

Unlike the on-field games, there is no time limit to what happens off the field.

The NFL world is constantly spinning in preparation for the next season, so they have crafted a calendar that clearly outlines what the next seven or so months will look like before kickoff in September.

It's a whole new game now.

Here's what to know about all the important dates on the NFL's offseason calendar in 2026.

NFL offseason calendar 2026

Feb. 17: Franchise tag window opens

Teams can choose to place the franchise tag or transition tag on players who are set to hit free agency. The window is open until 4 p.m. ET on March 3. NFL teams can use the franchise tag only once per offseason, which essentially serves as a one-year deal to keep a player from departing in free agency.

Feb. 23 to March 2:NFL combine

The NFL invited 319 prospects to the pre-draft event in 2026, which is slated to take place at the home of the Indianapolis Colts – Lucas Oil Stadium.

March 3: Franchise tag window closes

It's deadline day for the franchise and transition tag. Teams have until 4 p.m. ET to make a decision.

March 9: NFL legal tampering begins

The NFL tampering period is the pregame to free agency and it begins at Noon ET on March 9. Teams can talk with agents and agree to terms, but there will be no pen-to-paper or finger to the tablet from the player to make the deal official.

March 11: NFLfree agency, new league year

The new league year officially begins at 4 p.m. ET on March 11, meaning all signings and trades can become official.

March 29 to April 1: NFL league meetings

Rule changes and other matters will be discussed when the league convenes in Phoenix for the annual meetings.

April 6: Offseason workouts begin (for teams with new HCs)

Nearly a third of the league will be able to begin offseason workouts this year after the coaching carousel saw 10 coaching changes.

April 17: Restricted free agent offer sheet deadline

Restricted free agents have until this day to sign offer sheets.

April 20: Offseason workouts begin (for teams with returning HCs)

The remaining 22 teams can officially begin offseason workouts.

April 23 to April 25:NFL draft

The 2026 NFL Draft is set to take place in Pittsburgh.

May 1: Fifth-year option deadline for 2023 first-round picks

Every first-round pick in the NFL draft has a "fifth-year" option built into their initial four-year contract after being drafted. Teams may elect to exercise the option to keep the player for another season, but that decision must be made by May 1 for 2023 first-round picks.

May 1-4 or May 8-11: Rookie minicamps

Teams can choose between these dates for their three-day rookie minicamp after the draft.

Mid-May: NFL schedule release

The NFL has traditionally released the schedule for the upcoming season in mid-May.

May 19 to May 20: Spring league meeting

The spring league meetings will be held in Orlando, where everyone will gather again to discuss potential rule changes and related matters.

June 1 cuts

This is akey date for managing salary cap spacewhen it comes to trades, releases or retirements.

July 15: Franchise tag extension deadline

Players on a franchise tag have until 4 p.m. ET on July 15 to sign a contract extension. After that time, the player will have to wait until after the team's last regular-season game to ink an extension of any kind.

Mid-to-Late July: Training camp opens

Training camps officially open, signaling that football season is just around the corner.

Early August: NFL preseason begins

There are about four weeks of preseason action, which traditionally begins with the Hall of Fame game in Canton, Ohio. The two teams participating in that game will play four preseason contests, while the remaining 30 teams will play only three.

Late August: NFL roster cutdown

Rosters must be reduced to 53 players ahead of the regular season.

When does the 2026 NFL regular season begin?

The 2026 NFL regular season is expected to begin on Thursday, Sept. 10, if previous seasons are any indication. However, the league could break tradition and open on Wednesday, Sept. 9, according toPuck's John Ourand.

A scheduling quirk created by the significant time difference has the league exploring its options ahead of the Week 1 matchup between theLos Angeles Ramsand San Francisco 49ers.

If the game is scheduled for Wednesday, it would mark the first time since 2019 that the NFL's kickoff game didn't feature the defending Super Bowl champion. The league elected to feature theGreen Bay Packersand Chicago Bears to open its 100th season, rather than the defending champion New England Patriots.

Traditionally, the Super Bowl winner hosts the first game of the season on Thursday night after Labor Day, with the remaining teams playing over the weekend.

The schedule announcement is expected to come in mid-May.

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY:2026 NFL calendar: Season start date, free agency, draft, more

DAYTONA BEACH, Fla. (AP) — Nate Bargatze considered squeezinga big, dumb jokeinto his command for drivers to start their engines at theDaytona 500.

"At first, I thought about doing like, how many feet are in 500 miles," Bargatze said. "Nobody knows."

Bargatzelaughed when he said the proposed joke, which is a riff on his popular "Washington's Dream" sketches on "Saturday Night Live," fell flat when he tested it Saturday night during a gig in Indianapolis.

"I was going to do another one withJimmie Johnsonbeing older to let the younger drivers know that his left blinker will be on the whole race," Bargatze said. "Then when I got here and talked about it, it's like, I think you just need to do, normal? You have all these hopes and dreams to do something funny."

Bargatze kept it straight in his role as grand marshal for Sunday'sDaytona 500.

"It's going to be insanity," Bargatze said. "It's been a dream to be asked to do this."

Bargatze's day at Daytona — where he mingled with drivers such as Denny Hamlin — is just the latest dream job for one of the most popular stand-ups currently working. He hosted theEmmy Awards, released threeNetflixspecials and just won a Best Comedy Album Grammy Award for "Your Friend, Nate Bargatze."

His "Big Dumb Eyes World Tour" set a record for biggest one-year gross by a comedy performer in history and has set more than 40 arena attendance records.

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They served as warm-up acts for his first starring role in a movie, "The Breadwinner." Bargatze co-wrote the script for the film he said was influenced by his stand-up and old-school funny, family movies such as "Mr. Mom" and "Home Alone."

"You want it to be broad, the whole family can come," Bargatze said. "It's like what I do with stand-up, you kind of just want everybody to come."

Mandy Moore plays Bargatze's wife in the comedy, which also includes Colin Jost and Will Forte and opens May 29.

"Obviously overwhelming," Bargatze said. "I don't know how to act. Learning that on the fly was a good time."

The 46-year-old Bargatze resumes his stand-up tour this week in Rockford, Illinois, and he's set to host the ABC game show, "The Greatest Average American."

The title seemed fitting when Bargatze was gifted one of only 500 specialty Daytona 500 hats. The hat was numbered 302. Average.

"It's not bragging," Bargatze said. "I'm right in the middle. That's where the average American would be. It's humility. It's how you go."

AP auto racing:https://apnews.com/hub/auto-racing

Frank Carroll/NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

NEED TO KNOW

• Cheers initially premiered in 1982 to low ratings despite strong support from critics

• Led by Ted Danson, the cast included Woody Harrelson, Shelley Long, Rhea Perlman, George Wendt, John Ratzenberger and, later, Kelsey Grammer

• Over time, ratings improved dramatically, turning the once-last-place sitcom into one of television's most successful and enduring comedies

Some TV shows are instant hits, butCheerstook the long way around – and that slow start is a big reason it's aged so well. What began as a ratings underdog has since become a beloved classic, proving that great television doesn't always win right away.

In a recent appearance on Jesse Tyler Ferguson'sDinner's On Mepodcast,Ted Dansonrevealed just how uncertain those early days felt.

"Critics loved us. Everyone around us…the writers, everybody was so positive. 'Don't pay attention, just keep doing it' kind of feedback, which was lovely, but we were dead last one week in the ratings,"Danson told Fergusonover a cup of coffee. "We were like... Jimmy [Burrows] likes to say we were 75th outta 70. There were only 70 shows."

Danson, 78, revealed he was later told that the network "would have" scrapped the show, but "they had nothing to replaceCheerswith."

NBCU Photo Bank via Getty

After that shaky beginning,Cheersslowly found its audience and grew into one of the most iconic sitcoms at the time. The show premiered on NBC in September 1982 and was set almost entirelyinside a neighborhood Boston bar.

At its core,Cheerswas about a group of very different people coming together, episode after episode, to talk, argue, fall in love and support one another – usually over a drink.

Danson led the cast as Sam Malone, a former professional baseball player who owns and bartends at Cheers whileShelley Long played Diane Chambers, the intelligent and idealistic waitress whose complicated romance with Sam became a major storyline untilher departure after season 5.

The bar was also home to some of television's most memorable supporting characters.Rhea Perlmanplayed Carla Tortelli, a tough, sarcastic waitress and mother to eight children who never held back her opinions.

George Wendt'sNorm Peterson was the beloved regular whose entrances were always greeted with a cheerful shout of his name. John Ratzenberger portrayed mailman Cliff Clavin, the bar's resident know-it-all who delighted in sharing useless facts. Woody Harrelson, meanwhile, played Woody Boyd, a kindhearted bartender whose small-town innocence made him a fan favorite.

Later in the series,Kelsey Grammerjoined the cast as Frasier Crane, a psychiatrist who added a fresh dynamic to the show and eventually led to hisown successful spin-off.

NBCU Photo Bank/NBCUniversal via Getty

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As word spread and viewers caught on,Cheerstransformed from a ratings long shot into an awards powerhouse. Over its 11-season run, the series won six Golden Globe Awards and 28 Primetime Emmy Awards.

Some of the iconic cast was even invited on stage for the 75th Primetime Emmy Awards for alegendary reunion. Anthony Anderson, the host at the time,told PEOPLE: "We are paying tribute to iconic shows that have changed the scope of television and entertainment by being on the air."

"We're going to be paying homage to them, having a lot of cast members come back as themselves, as these characters, and there's going to be a little interchange between me and them on the sets of their shows," he added.

What once struggled to survive its first season is now remembered as a timeless comedy – proof that sometimes the shows that take the longest to catch on are the ones that stay with us the longest.

Read the original article onPeople

Alan Singer/NBC/NBCU Photo Bank

NEED TO KNOW

• Chris Farley's brother, Tom Farley, reveals what he misses most about the late comedian

• Chris died on Dec. 18, 1997, at age 33, from an apparent drug overdose

• "I would have loved to have been in recovery with Chris," Tom tells PEOPLE

Chris Farley'sbrother is recalling the time the late comedian was in recovery and at his best — saying he wishes he could continue the journey alongside him, all these years later.

Over28 years afterthe famedSaturday Night Livealum's death on Dec. 18, 1997, at age 33, from an apparent drug overdose, Tom Farley recalls some of his favorite memories of his brother — a larger-than-life personality who was privately plagued by addictions.

Asked what he misses the most about Chris, Tom — who has been open about his own recovery and now serves as the community outreach director forRecovery.com— says it's evolved with time.

Farley Family Archives

"For years, when people would ask me that, I'd give the same answer: We would come home to Madison, Wis., or we'd see each other after a while, and he'd just give me a bear hug. I can still feel it, you know, and we'd hold it," he says. "It was just a brotherly thing. It was wonderful. And I still miss that."

"But what I really miss now is that I would have loved to have been in recovery with Chris," he continues. "Because when he was in recovery, and he was so successful those last years onSNL,he was working his program. He was amazing and look at what happened — he just exploded. And I started seeing a brother I never got to see."

Born in Wisconsin, Chris landed a spot in Chicago's Second City Theater in 1987. He was picked up by Lorne Michaels forSaturday Night Livein 1990.

Over the next five years onSNL, the comedian debuted a slew of legendary characters, including motivational speaker Matt Foley, a wannabe Chippendales dancer and Cindy, one of the Gap girls.

Chris went in and out of rehab more than a dozen times throughout his life, and was sober for three years before relapsing again in 1995.

Though he wasreleased from the sketch comedy showthat same year (along with his close friend Adam Sandler), Farley found success on the big screen, appearing inTommy BoyandBeverly Hills Ninja.

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All these years later, Tom says he still sees Chris in the characters he made famous.

"Here was this guy that was known for his characters — and yet, if you look at every one of Chris's characters, it was Chris," Tom says, adding, "I had to share a bedroom with this guy. He was known for characters, but he was always just himself ... that's why, we all these years later, we love him still."

When the two would put on skits before their family members as kids, Tom says it came naturally to Chris, explaining, "I was playing a character. I was trying to get this caricature of something that wasn't anything close to me. And Chris was just trying to be himself."

"I used to think his whole purpose in life was to push my buttons," Tom laughs. "And he was good at it. But I believe now what he was really saying was, 'Tommy, just be yourself.' "

Read the original article onPeople

A former Ukrainian energy minister has been detained in connection with a major corruption scandal while trying to leave the country, authorities said on Sunday.

Ukraine's anti-corruption bureau (NABU) said its detectives "detained the former minister of energy as part of the Midas case," referencing a wide-ranging investigation into corruption in Ukraine's energy sector that triggered a major political crisis last year.

"Initial investigative actions are ongoing, carried out in accordance with the requirements of the law," NABU added in a statement, without naming the former minister.

The scandal, which centers on alleged kickbacks from contractors including those working to protect critical energy infrastructure, led both the serving and a former energy minister to resign last year at President Volodymyr Zelensky's request. Both denied wrongdoing.

Chief of staff to the president, Andriy Yermak, alsoresignedamid the fallout.

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Investigators said about $100 million had been siphoned off as state-owned businesses including Energoatom, which operates Ukraine's nuclear power plants, paid companies for work done to enhance security at key sites.

At the time, Ukraine's anti-corruption body announced it had carried out searches on dozens of properties as part of the investigation.

Corruption allegations are nothing new in Ukraine. Since 2023, NABU has opened investigations into a series of scandals.

In January 2024, Ukraine's Security Service (SBU) said it had discovered amass corruption schemein the purchase of weapons by the country's military amounting to nearly $40 million.

CNN's Andrew Carey contributed reporting.

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