The Milan Cortina 2026 Winter Olympics are set to kick off on Friday with a grand opening ceremony that will be unlike anything seen before. More than 1,000 performers, including iconic artists Mariah Carey and Andrea Bocelli, will come together to celebrate Italian history, culture, and fashion in a spectacular display.
The main venue for the two-and-a-half-hour live Olympic opener will be Milan’s San Siro stadium, which has a seating capacity of 75,000. The event is expected to attract a global audience of 2.2 billion viewers. Tight security measures will be in place, with thousands of Italian police officers, surveillance drones, and robots patrolling the area around the stadium. A number of heads of state, including U.S. Vice President JD Vance and Secretary of State Marco Rubio, will be in attendance.
Leading up to the games, there have been protests over the presence of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agents, who are providing security for Vance and Rubio. This has caused tensions, leading to the renaming of the official hospitality hangout space for the U.S. Olympic team in Milan from The Ice House to The Winter House. Additionally, there was a Russian cyberattack targeting Olympics-related websites and hotels.
Marco Balich, a veteran Olympic ceremonies producer, has crafted the multi-location opening ceremony around the theme of “harmony,” aiming to bring together city and mountains, man and nature, and athletes from diverse cultures. Balich emphasizes a departure from the glitz of previous Olympic openers, focusing instead on ecological sustainability while still delivering an exciting experience.
Despite the toned-down approach, excitement is still high with Snoop Dogg set to attend as a special correspondent for NBC’s coverage. Actress Sabrina Impacciatore will perform a musical number tracing 100 years of the Winter Olympics. Notably, this year will see two Olympic cauldrons lit simultaneously at Milan’s Arco della Pace and Cortina’s Piazza Dibona, a first in Olympic history. The Parade of Nations will be divided across four locations, with TV coverage seamlessly weaving it all into a cohesive narrative.
Stay tuned for the biggest moments from this year’s Winter Olympics opening ceremony, as they unfold live.
