The Year Ahead: Sports

1. A Teen From the Yukon Will Be the NHL’s Top Draft Pick

At just 17, Gavin McKenna is already touted as hockey’s Next One. The Yukon-born lefty is Canada’s biggest pre-draft phenom since his own distant cousin, Connor Bedard, in 2023. The comparisons don’t stop there: shifty skating, a devastating shot and high hockey IQ all run in the family. But McKenna is charting his own course. He’s set to be the first top draft pick from the territories in June and has become the rare Canadian talent to controversially jump ship from junior hockey for the NCAA (he’s at Penn State). The hockey world can’t wait to see what he’ll do next.

2. BMO Field Will Get a Makeover

Toronto’s lakefront soccer pitch is getting the World Cup treatment. BMO Field—soon to be temporarily renamed Toronto Stadium—will receive a $146-million facelift ahead of this summer’s tournament. The overhaul includes massive 50-by-30-foot video boards towering over the pitch, a new broadcast room built to beam FIFA feeds to billions and a hybrid grass surface tough enough for back-to-back matches. The upgrades, led by MLSE and the city of Toronto, will boost capacity to 45,000 seats to meet FIFA’s standards. Come June 12, when Canada’s men’s team kicks off its first World Cup match on home soil, Toronto Stadium will finally look like the world stage it’s always aspired to be.

3. Bobby Webster Will Lead the Raptors’ Post-Ujiri Era

Bobby Webster, a father of three and one of the NBA’s youngest general managers, will bring Toronto into a new era without a change in title but with full control of basketball operations. An NBA lifer who helped engineer the Raptors’ 2019 championship and once negotiated the league’s collective-bargaining agreement, Webster has been quietly steering the ship alongside Masai Ujiri for years. Now, with three straight losing seasons and a 30-52 record to fix, the spotlight is his alone. Webster’s extended contract signals that the franchise trusts its long-time architect to rebuild the North, brick by brick.

4. Canada Will Claim Hockey Supremacy

NHL players haven’t appeared in the past two Winter Olympics: in 2018 due to failed negotiations with the NHL, and in 2022 due to concerns about COVID outbreaks. But in 2026, Canada will ice a roster barely a year removed from its commanding win at the inaugural 4 Nations Face-Off. Connor McDavid remains the best player on Earth, and Cale Makar is the most electrifying defenceman since Bobby Orr. The real headline is legacy: Sidney Crosby is expected to suit up one final time. He could become the first Canadian man to win three Olympic hockey golds. The stakes are simple: one last shot at victory, and a glorious end to a career already etched in national mythology.

5. The Blue Jays Will Double Down

After a thrilling and heartbreaking World Series run, the Blue Jays have no plans to retreat or rebuild. The team will continue to revolve around its beloved core—Vladimir Guerrero Jr., George Springer and Alejandro Kirk—with the flexibility to go after big-ticket names in the winter market. Bo Bichette is a free agent, but who wouldn’t want to return to this band of brothers? They’ll also be looking for more hidden gems like Ernie Clement and Chris Bassitt. So many things broke Toronto’s way last year, but the mark of a great team is doing it all over again. In 2026, the goal is clear: this time, go all the way.

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6. The Toronto Tempo Will Finally Tip Off

The WNBA’s first Canadian franchise will debut in 2026. Led by MLSE chairman Larry Tanenbaum’s Kilmer Group, the Toronto Tempo has assembled a celebrity ownership roster that includes Serena Williams, Lilly Singh, tech leader Sukhinder Singh Cassidy and Montreal Canadiens’ co-owner Geoff Molson, who sees women’s basketball as the next frontier in Canadian sport. Head coach Sandy Brondello is a big get too; she led the New York Liberty to a championship in 2024. The Tempo will reach beyond their hometown next year, with two games at Montreal’s Bell Centre.

7. Sports Gambling Sites Will Face Blowback

Since single-event wagering was legalized in Ontario in 2021, bets have surged; players gambled $82.7 billion between April 1, 2024, and March 1, 2025. But regulators are clamping down. The Alcohol and Gaming Commission of Ontario has banned most celebrity and athlete endorsements, while the federal government’s Bill S-211 aims to curb the flood of gambling ads and protect vulnerable players. Platforms are now required to monitor behaviour in real time—for example, flagging marathon deposit streaks—and to step in with cooling-off prompts or limits. Recently, Ontario’s Alcohol and Gaming Commission fined TheScore $105,000 after a player lost $230,000 over eight months.

8. Pickleball Courts Are Coming

Municipalities are hustling to paint dedicated lines for the 1.5 million- plus Canadians now swinging pickleball paddles. (Among the most tricked-out venues: a glass-roofed conservatory in Victoria, and a repurposed runway at London, Ontario’s airport.) In 2026, British Columbia will welcome the Nest, a 98,000-square-foot pickleball palace. Meanwhile, North America’s fastest-growing indoor franchise, the Picklr, is storming into Winnipeg as its first Canadian location, with plans for 65 new Canadian clubs and more than 500 courts over the next few years.

9. Ontario Will Consider Price Caps on Event Tickets

The Blue Jays’ World Series run didn’t just rip out the hearts of Canadian fans—it yanked cash from their wallets. Some diehard supporters reportedly shelled out $12,000 for seats at Rogers Centre, while average game seven prices exceeded $4,000. A homeplate ticket for game six appeared on a resale site for $112,953. Ontario Premier Doug Ford says his government is eyeing legislation to cap resale prices, so fans don’t get priced out of playoffs. The irony? In 2019, the Ford government scrapped a similar law, calling a 50 per cent cap “unenforceable.” Now, the premier wants to reverse course, hopefully before the Jays make it to another World Series—or Taylor Swift comes back to town.

10. Trey Yesavage Will Be the Jays’ Breakout Star

It doesn’t matter that Trey Yesavage has started only three MLB regular-season games, or that he played three leagues below the majors just six months before the 2025 World Series. This year, he’ll be the Jays’ hottest rookie. The 22-year-old righty pitcher arrived from the minors with a fastball that touches the mid-90s, a slider that stumps the game’s best hitters and the command to keep balls out of the third deck. The Jays could use a new ace. Kevin Gausman is aging out, and Yesavage, a brazen but stoic pitcher, could be the one to take over.