Big events

The trips fans plan a year ahead. Each page has the dates, how tickets work, where to stay and what else to do in town.

1. Sun, February 21, 2027

   Daytona 500

   Daytona International Speedway, Daytona Beach, FL

   The Daytona 500 is the 200-lap race that opens the NASCAR Cup Series season at Daytona International Speedway, and the track calls it The Great American Race. Fans come from all 50 states for a full week of racing called Speedweeks, and the 500 has sold out ten years in a row.

2. April 3 to 2027 (day: 5)

   NCAA Men's Final Four

   Ford Field, Detroit, MI

   The Final Four is the last weekend of the NCAA men's basketball tournament: two national semifinals on Saturday and the title game on Monday night. Fans of the four schools and neutral fans fill a football stadium, and the host city runs free fan events all weekend. Detroit hosts in 2027 and Las Vegas in 2028.

3. April 5 to 2027 (day: 11)

   The Masters

   Augusta National Golf Club, Augusta, GA

   The Masters is golf's first major of the year, played every April at Augusta National Golf Club in Augusta, Georgia. Fans, called patrons, come for the course, the old traditions and a day with no phones, and most get in only by winning a ticket lottery run by the club.

4. Sat, May 1, 2027

   Kentucky Derby

   Churchill Downs, Louisville, KY

   The Kentucky Derby is a race of about two minutes for three-year-old horses, run on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in Louisville. More than 150,000 people come for the hats, the mint juleps, the garland of roses and a full week of racing and parties around it.

5. Sun, May 30, 2027

   Indianapolis 500

   Indianapolis Motor Speedway, Speedway, IN

   The Indianapolis 500 is a 500-mile IndyCar race run each Memorial Day weekend at Indianapolis Motor Speedway, the 2.5-mile oval known as the Brickyard. The 2026 race drew a capacity crowd of about 350,000, and the whole month of May in Indianapolis builds up to it.

6. June 18 to 2027 (day: 28)

   Men's College World Series

   Charles Schwab Field Omaha, Omaha, NE

   The Men's College World Series brings the last eight teams in Division I baseball to Omaha for about ten days of double-elimination games, ending in a best-of-three final. Omaha has hosted since 1950, and the downtown ballpark sits a short walk from the Old Market, so fans of every school mix in the same bars and restaurants all week.