No NHL All-Star Game next year; Brock Huard stepping away from CFB on Fox; a longtime Rangers TV duo will reunite on TNT; and the Women’s World Cup is headed back to the US.
NHL likely to skip All-Star Game in ’26
The NHL “probably won’t do an all-star game” in 2026, league commissioner Gary Bettman said in an interview with Puck’s John Ourand. The league is instead committed to ensuring players can compete in the Winter Olympics in Milan, which will include NHL players for the first time since 2014, and thus necessitate a break in NHL play for at least two weeks.
The NHL has arguably been the most innovative among the four US major leagues in developing a successful exhibition event. The four-team mini-tournament has been the standard for the NHL long before the NBA attempted it. The NHL scrapped that format this year to introduce the smash-hit Four Nations Face-Off. In 2028, the NHL is expected to revive the World Cup of Hockey as another All-Star substitute.
Bettman stressed that future exhibition events must be developed with “authenticity” and with the intent to promote the players and stories of the league.
Brock Huard stepping away from Fox CFB
Fox college football analyst Brock Huard will not return to the booth this season, according to Front Office Sports. Huard will instead become the tight ends coach at his son’s high school in Colorado. Huard joined Fox in 2019 after departing ESPN, and has mostly worked on the #2 crew with Jason Benetti and Joe Davis before that.
The move will leave a vacancy in Fox’s booth. Other Fox CFB analysts that could fill the role include Devin Gardner and Mark Helfrich. A Fox spokesperson declined to comment to FOS. Huard also works UFL games in the spring for Fox, although that role would be less impacted by a coaching position in the fall.
Sam Rosen reuniting with Davidson for TNT game
New York Rangers play-by-play voice Sam Rosen will reunite with longtime MSG Network analyst John Davidson to call a game for TNT on Wednesday ahead of the former’s retirement at the end of the season. Rosen has called Rangers games for four decades, including the first twenty years in a famed partnership with Davidson, who left for an executive position with the St. Louis Blues in 2006. Davidson has worked sporadically for a number of networks since leaving the Rangers.
The April 9 Flyers-Rangers game will be at nationally exclusive to TNT, truTV, and Max at 7:30 PM.
Women’s World Cup returning to US in 2031
FIFA president Gianni Infantino said last week the United States are expected to host the 2031 Women’s World Cup, as the only “valid bid” to host the tournament. Other Concacaf nations may be involved in hosting some games. The move will not be made official until the FIFA Congress can vote on the measure in 2026. The US previously hosted the Women’s World Cup in 2003 and 1999 and is hosting the Men’s World Cup for the second time in 2026.
The United Kingdom is expected to host the tournament for the first time in 2035. England previously hosted the men’s event in 1966.
The event will be the second of the two Women’s World Cups included FIFA’s US broadcasting deal with Netflix. The 2031 event and the upcoming 2027 event in Brazil will both feature favorable Western-hemisphere timeslots for US audiences.
