The Opening Ceremony for the 2026 Milan-Cortina Olympic Games takes place Friday. Here’s a short guide to watching the Opening Ceremony and its following events.
When is the Olympic opening ceremony?
The Winter Olympics Opening Ceremony will be held Friday at noon MST — which is 8 p.m. in Italy.
An encore presentation will be broadcast at 7 p.m. on KSL, which is the NBC affiliate in Utah.
How to watch the Olympic opening ceremony and how long is it?
The opening ceremony will air on NBC, with streaming available on Peacock.
The duration is expected to be three hours.
Where will the Opening Ceremony take place? What to expect?
One of the highlights of any Olympics is the Parade of Nations, which will feature athletes marching from 92 countries. This year, the parade will take place in four different locations due to the large distance between the various event locations in Italy. Athletes from different countries will march in the location their event is set to take place.
The locations include Milan, Cortina, Predazzo and Livigno, but the main celebration will be in Milan at San Siro Stadium — home of soccer clubs AC Milan and Inter Milan.
Led by flag-bearers Frank Del Duca (bobsled) and Erin Jackson (speedskating), Team USA will feature 232 athletes, a record number for the U.S. in a Winter Olympics.
For the first time ever, the Olympics will feature two Olympic caldrons in Milan and Cortina, adding to the uniqueness of the Milan Cortina Olympic Games, according to the Olympics website. The flames will be extinguished in these locations on Feb. 22 and will be relit for the Paralympic Games on March 6.
Along with the ceremony festivities, Mariah Carey and Italian icon and tenor Andrea Bocelli are expected to perform.
How to watch the Olympic events over the next 2 weeks
The events can be watched on NBC and streamed on Peacock. CNBC and USA Network will also broadcast a limited range of events.
Events that already started ahead of the Opening Ceremony include curling, in which the U.S. defeated Norway and Switzerland; and ice hockey that saw Vice President JD Vance cheering on the U.S. as it defeated Czechia. Qualification runs for snowboarding took place and official trainings for luge, ski jump and Alpine skiing are underway.
Looking ahead to the Closing Ceremony
The Closing Ceremony will take place in Verona Arena, setting the precedent of ending the Olympics somewhere other than where the Opening Ceremony was hosted, Forbes reported.
The event will take place Feb. 22 at 12:30 p.m. with a live broadcast on NBC and streaming available on Peacock.
The Closing Ceremony will honor athletes from across the world for their achievements during the Games. The ceremony will also include the process of passing the Olympic flame toward the next host country for the Winter Olympic Games, which will be France in 2030.
Watch parties in Utah
Salt Lake City will host a free outdoor Olympics watch party at the Civic Center, 450 S. 200 East, an area between Salt Lake City Main Library and Washington Square.
The opening watch party will take place from 4-10 p.m. on Friday, with the prime-time broadcast starting at 7 p.m.
