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The Windy City will play host to this year’s Hallmark-NFL cinematic collaboration.

The Chicago Bears are partnering with the league, Hallmark Media and Skydance Sports on the production of Holiday Touchdown: A Bears Love Story, the team announced Thursday. Bears coach Ben Johnson and tight end Colston Loveland delivered the news on social media.

Production will kick off this summer and film entirely at locations in and around Chicago. The cast will be announced at a later date.

“We are honored, grateful and excited to join forces with Hallmark Media, Skydance Sports and NFL Films on this special project,” Bears president and CEO Kevin Warren said in a statement. “As we continually look for ways to further the connection with our passionate Chicago Bears fans and amplify our global brand in creative ways, we will provide our club and our fans with the opportunity to grow together by creating a special, meaningful movie. We look forward to the work ahead alongside Hallmark Media, Skydance Sports and NFL Films, and we are energized for the product we will create together, celebrating football, family, the Chicago Bears and the holiday season.”

The Bears will be the third NFL team in as many years to be featured in a Hallmark Christmas movie after the Kansas City Chiefs and Buffalo Bills earned the spotlight in 2024 and 2025, respectively.

It’s fitting for Chicago, who host the rival Green Bay Packers on Christmas Day this season in a potentially critical Week 16 game.

“After the tremendous success of our first two Holiday Touchdown movies, we knew we wanted to continue the tradition by partnering with another iconic NFL franchise and fan base,” Hallmark Media president and CBO Darren Abbott said. “The Chicago Bears have a rich history, passionate supporters, and a culture that extends far beyond the football field, making them a perfect fit for a heartwarming holiday story. We can’t wait for audiences to experience this story and celebrate the passion and spirit that bring Bears fans together.”

The Bears’ partnership with Hallmark is their latest notable off-field foray into media this offseason. Star quarterback Caleb Williams was revealed as the Madden NFL 27 cover athlete earlier this month.

Kansas City and Buffalo parlayed their X-mas film debuts into playoff appearances, but both came up short — the Chiefs fell in Super Bowl LIX, while the Bills bowed out in the Divisional Round.

SANTA CLARA, California, June 25 – The 2026 World Cup is already setting sports gambling records before the knockout stage has even begun, with an increased number of teams and market-favourable kickoff ​times raising industry expectations that it could become the all-time biggest betting event.

The expanded 48-nation, 104-match World Cup is set to far surpass betting volumes of the 2022 ‌tournament in Qatar, according to some industry leaders and experts, helped by more regulated gambling, deeper product offerings and the scale of the business in co-host the United States.

Flutter Entertainment (FLTRF.L), opens new tab, whose brands include FanDuel, Paddy Power, Betfair, Sisal, Sportsbet and Sky Bet, said that, beyond the U.S., the larger tournament meant greater engagement in markets where it has a strong presence, including Britain, Spain, Brazil, Australia and Canada.

“We’re expecting the World Cup to be the biggest betting event of ​all time given the extended format as well as the benefit of it being partly hosted in our key market, the U.S.,” a Flutter spokesperson said.

The world’s largest online betting ​company expects to have around 10 million customers across its different platforms and to manage 100,000 bets per minute globally at peak World Cup moments.
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“Overall, ⁠we expect staking to be at least double what we experienced in Qatar.”

BRAZIL, US OPENERS SET RECORDS
Macquarie forecasts total World Cup wagers above $50 billion globally, beating the $35 billion for the 2022 edition. A ​key driver of the increase is the changing regulatory landscape in the U.S., where access to legal betting has risen to 65% of the population from around 40% in 2022.

Reuters contacted some of the world’s ​biggest sports betting firms, collectively representing dozens of platforms, for their insights on trends during the first week of the World Cup.

The opening matches for the United States and Brazil were FanDuel’s top two soccer matches ever in terms of active customers, while the same two matches were the biggest events in its Sportsbook history for U.S. giant DraftKings (DKNG.O), opens new tab, for both handle and active customers.

Handle is the total amount wagered by bettors, while active customers are those with registered ​accounts.
Greg Karamitis, executive vice president and general manager for sports at DraftKings, said it had already seen “tremendous engagement” and a huge volume jump compared to the early stages of the Qatar World Cup.

“We’ve seen ​a 3x increase in first-time predictions customers and an increase of 87% in predictions trading volume since the start of the tournament,” Karamitis said.

“On the Sportsbook side, we’ve seen a 5x increase in handle compared to the ‌2022 World ⁠Cup.”
Deutsche Bank has a base projection of $3.3 billion for the World Cup handle in the U.S., led by FanDuel and DraftKings, nearly double projected figures for this year’s Super Bowl.

ENGAGEMENT SOARS, BUT FINANCIAL IMPACT UNCERTAIN
Entain Group, which counts Ladbrokes, Coral, BetMGM, Sportingbet, bwin and Sports Interaction among its brands, said match times and location were crucial factors for betting firms and it was benefiting from its U.S. and Brazil presence, though its CEO Stella David earlier this year anticipated a “rollercoaster ride” early on from increased teams and high-scoring, lopsided games.

LONDON, June 25 : Nothing gets British fans more giddy at Wimbledon than a home favourite making a deep run in the tournament, and with Emma Raducanu back in form and Jack Draper back from injury, expectation levels are set to soar again.

Raducanu became the darling of British tennis with a stunning U.S. Open triumph as a teenage qualifier in 2021 but has struggled to get anywhere near hitting such heights again.

Since then, the 23-year-old’s career has been plagued by injuries, illness and a revolving door of coaches and she has only once reached the fourth round of a Slam since her Flushing Meadows fairytale — at Wimbledon in 2024.

Now reunited with Andrew Richardson, the coach she split with shortly after her U.S. Open triumph, Raducanu has shown signs of rediscovering her spark and returning to the free-flowing tennis she was known for.

That was evident at the Queen’s Club Championship where she reached the final and lost to Croatia’s experienced Donna Vekic — a run that means she will be seeded 30th at Wimbledon.

DRAPER BACK FROM INJURY

Her decision to withdraw from the Nottingham Open rather than try to build on the momentum of Queen’s raised some eyebrows and she skipped Eastbourne too, preferring instead to practise at the All England Club.

Having missed several tournaments this year recovering from a post-viral illness, Raducanu’s decision to conserve her energy for the physical and mental strain of Wimbledon is understandable, although there is also a school of thought that a few more wins on grass would have been the perfect tonic.

“The one time in her entire career she played most days for three weeks she produced a level of tennis that won her a Grand Slam,” American former world number one and three-time Wimbledon finalist Andy Roddick said on his podcast Served.

“I know the value of winning, winning, winning going into a Slam. At some point she is going to have to play a lot of tennis. If I’m her coach and she’s healthy I would say let’s go and keep it going in Nottingham.”

Former world number four Draper has played only a handful of matches since last year’s Wimbledon as he battled with an arm injury and a knee condition.

He returned to action at Eastbourne this week for the first time since April with a very familiar face in his corner — Britain’s two-time Wimbledon champion Andy Murray.

NORRIE COULD MISS OWN PARTY

With so few matches in the tank, Draper will be managing his expectations, but the powerful left-hander will be fuelled by Murray’s vast experience and a partisan crowd.

“Andy, truthfully, is one of my biggest inspirations. When I was younger, I remember him playing all the big events and being there to watch him,” Draper said at Eastbourne.

“He believes in my game and he believes in me as a person. That’s what I really need right now, coming back from the year I have had.”

While Draper and Raducanu will command most of the home attention, 30-year-old Cameron Norrie will be the only British seed in the men’s singles and will go about his business with the usual lack of fanfare.

He reached the quarter-finals last year and the semis in 2022 and should he still be in contention near the end of the second week it could mean he will have to miss his own stag weekend planned for Ibiza.

“It’s a win-win I guess, if I am still in Wimbledon,” Norrie told the Sun. “My friends will go anyway, they’ve got everything booked — they’ll hopefully be watching the tennis from there.”

Katie Boulter will hope to share the spotlight with Raducanu as she aims to go past the third round for the first time.

NOTTINGHAM, England, June 25 : Returning England captain Ben Stokes lost the toss against New Zealand ahead of the third test in Nottingham on Thursday and Tom Latham has chosen to bat.

• Stokes and pace bowler Gus Atkinson are both included in the side for the series decider after being made unavailable for the second test at The Oval, which New Zealand won to level the series, after an incident at a London nightclub.

• The Cricket Regulator cleared the duo to return for Trent Bridge after an England and Wales Cricket Board investigation found that while both players had broken a team curfew they were not involved in an incident in which a Saracens rugby player reportedly struck a member of the England team’s security staff.

• Jamie Smith is back behind the stumps for England, while off-spinner Shoaib Bashir is also included.

• New Zealand are without Oval match winner Matt Henry due to a calf injury, while Glenn Phillips has a side strain and Kyle Jamieson is rested. In come Ben Sears, Mitchell Santner and Blair Tickner.

SPIELBERG: Formula 1 drivers will carry extra cooling gear for this week’s Austrian Grand Prix after “heat hazard” rules were activated as hot weather causes disruption across Europe.

It’s the first time that F1’s heat rules, introduced last year, have been used for a race in Europe.

A heat hazard applies when temperatures above 31°C are forecast for race day. It can get much hotter inside the cockpit. A forecast on the F1 website dated Wednesday (Jun 24) said the maximum temperature expected for Sunday’s race was 32°C.

The declaration made Thursday by governing body the FIA means drivers either need to use cooling equipment or carry extra weight to ensure there’s no competitive advantage from not using the equipment.

Drivers wear vests which pump cooling liquid through a network of tubes, linked to pumping equipment inside the car. Some drivers dislike wearing the equipment because they say it’s uncomfortable or distracting.

The FIA started work on cooling technology for drivers after the Qatar Grand Prix in 2023 saw drivers require medical attention after feeling unwell in the heat.

Heat hazard rules were first used at the hot and humid Singapore Grand Prix last year and also for the United States Grand Prix in Austin, Texas.

June 25 : Francesco Bagnaia has signed a four-year contract with Aprilia, the team said on Thursday, a day after Ducati confirmed the departure of the two-time world champion, to be replaced by KTM’s Pedro Acosta from next year.

Bagnaia will join Aprilia from the start of MotoGP’s 2027 season, forming an all-Italian partnership at the Noale-based team alongside Marco Bezzecchi.

“Bagnaia’s arrival is a confirmation of the value of Italian sport, which in recent months has distinguished itself on the world stage thanks to the achievements of Kimi Antonelli in Formula 1, Jannik Sinner in tennis, and Federica Brignone at the Olympic Winter Games Milano Cortina 2026,” Aprilia Racing CEO Massimo Rivola said.

“Having a multiple world champion is a responsibility we can’t wait to take on.”

Bagnaia will make his final appearance for Ducati at the Valencia Grand Prix at the end of November, bringing an end to a successful eight-year stint with the Italian manufacturer.

Since joining Ducati as a rookie in 2019, the 29-year-old has become the team’s most successful rider ever. He delivered Ducati’s first riders’ championship in 15 years in 2022 and went on to secure a total of 31 victories, 62 podium finishes and 28 pole positions.

However, in the past 18 months he has struggled to match the pace of teammate Marc Marquez, who joined the factory Ducati squad in 2025.

Marquez dominated the most recent season to clinch his seventh world title, while Bagnaia finished fifth, trailing the Spaniard by 257 points.

LAUSANNE, June 25 : A senior International Olympic Committee official said on Thursday that Olympic Charter changes aimed at reinforcing sport’s political neutrality were vital for maintaining IOC independence in what he called an increasingly complicated world.

The IOC approved amendments on Wednesday strengthening language emphasising that sport should be free from political interference. Critics say the reforms could ease Russia’s return to international sport.

“It is more necessary than ever that the charter give us the power to maintain our independence. We have to keep the independence, it’s more difficult every day. It’s more complicated.
We are subject to more pressures. The world is getting more and more complicated,” Vice-President Juan Antonio Samaranch told reporters on the sidelines of the two-day extraordinary meeting in Lausanne.

“We need to arm ourselves and protect ourselves through the charter, to be able to take the right decisions,” he added. 

Samaranch said IOC changes to its sports programme which would evaluate Olympic inclusion by discipline rather than by sport were fair.

“Small sports are going to have their fair chance of competing fairly with bigger sports,” he said. 

WELCOMES SWISS OLYMPIC BID

The Lausanne meeting comes days after Switzerland’s government formally backed a bid to host the Olympic and ​Paralympic Winter Games in 2038. The country has not hosted the Games since 1948. 

Samaranch said a decision was expected soon, without giving specifics.

“We love the country, we are here. It’s our home, and we would like to see that go through,” he said. 

June 25 : Brazil’s Neymar said he went to the dressing room and shed some tears alone following his return to the side after a gap of 981 days, coming on in the second half during Wednesday’s 3-0 World Cup win over Scotland in Miami.

The 34-year-old last featured for Brazil in 2023. He suffered a serious knee injury in October that year and has struggled to maintain his form since then. He was initially a doubt for inclusion in Brazil’s World Cup squad.

He then suffered a calf injury last month that ruled him out of Brazil’s first two matches in the tournament. But he finally made his international comeback against Scotland, with the fans chanting his name.

“I went to the locker room, all alone, and I shed a few tears,” Neymar told reporters after Brazil finished top of Group C.

“It’s an immense relief to relive all this. It’s a moment of gratitude. I thank God for being able to experience this again.”

Brazil’s all-time top scorer with 79 goals, Neymar has now appeared in four World Cups, with eight goals and four assists in tournaments since 2014.

“I had been away for a long time so it’s a different team now, I see it with fresh eyes,” he said.

“But I’m very happy to have been able to come back and play in a World Cup and defend the Brazilian national team after so many years.”

Brazil will play the runners-up in Group F in their second-round clash in Houston on Monday.

The first round of the NBA Draft is in the books. While the start of the draft went according to chalk, teams started making moves late in the first round and things got interesting.

After the trades up and down, the risers and fallers and a few puzzling moves, here are the winners and losers from night one of the NBA Draft.

Winners

Michigan Wolverines

The national champions had three players go in the lottery — historic for more reason than one: Morez Johnson Jr. at No. 9, Yaxel Lendeborg at No. 11 and Aday Mara at No. 12. That mini-run on Michigan Wolverines players started with Johnson, who was picked by the Dallas Mavericks, now led by Dusty May, who until Sunday was head coach at Michigan.

Chicago Bulls

North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson has superstar potential and the Chicago Bulls got him at No. 4. Then, at No. 15, they took Texas wing Dailyn Swain, a big, strong player adept at getting into the paint. Both players need some time to develop, but the Bulls, who are finally rebuilding, have plenty of time to wait on both players’ sky-high potential.

Milwaukee Bucks

The Milwaukee Bucks added a second lottery pick at No. 13 in the blockbuster Giannis Antetokounmpo trade to go long with their No. 10 pick. Those picks looked even better when Arizona guard Brayden Burries fell to them at No. 10, and Nate Ament dropped to No. 13.

Newly acquired Tyler Herro is an obvious trade candidate for the rebuilding Bucks, so Burries could be their point guard of the future. Ament is a strong ball handler and solid athlete who is 6-foot-10 and might still be getting taller. It’s as good a draft haul as the Bucks could have hoped for in the late lottery.

Memphis Grizzlies

The Memphis Grizzlies landed the most surefire talent in the draft with Cameron Boozer at pick No. 3. Then they traded down twice to go from No. 16 to No. 21, picking up five second-round picks in the process and still landing 6-foot-8 power forward Karim Lopez, who only turned 19 in April. The Grizzlies’ rebuild is starting strong.

Losers

Western Conference big men

Last season, the San Antonio Spurs and center Victor Wembanyama battled for Western Conference supremacy with the Oklahoma City Thunder and centers Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein. The middle of their defenses aren’t getting any easier now that the Thunder picked 7-foot-3 center Aday Mara and the Spurs took Jayden Quaintance, a potential All-Defensive big man.

The Thunder now have a glut of centers, including Jaylin Williams and last year’s first-rounder Thomas Sorber, so it could indicate Hartenstein is on the move. Still, the draft doesn’t give any rival teams confidence that the paint is opening up next season.

Charlotte Hornets

The Charlotte Hornets didn’t do anything exciting with the No. 14 and No. 18 picks, selecting German center Hannes Steinbach and sharpshooting point guard Christian Anderson. Both players fill needs for a Hornets team lacking solid backups at point guard and center, but Steinbach doesn’t protect the rim and Anderson is so small he’s likely to struggle on defense.

Sacramento Kings

The Sacramento Kings picked Darius Acuff at No. 7, a dynamic scoring guard with sky-high offensive potential and serious defensive concerns. Then they traded up to No. 29 to select UConn’s Alex Karaban, a member of two national championship teams who has great basketball smarts and limited athleticism.

For a team that’s already got athleticism concerns with Domantas Sabonis and had the NBA’s third-worst defense, it’s hard to see these players turning around the moribund Kings.

Second-apron duckers

Three different title hopefuls (Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks) traded out of the first round entirely to reduce salary and dodge the punitive second apron. The new CBA may help competition, but it makes the tail end of the first round disappointing.

New England Patriots head coach Mike Vrabel has been in the news during the NFL offseason, and it has nothing to do with football. Earlier this year, photos of Vrabel hugging and holding hands with The Athletic reporter Dianna Russini surfaced in the New York Post. Because of the scandal, Vrabel even missed day three of the NFL draft to get counseling.

“As I said the other day, I promised my family, this organization and this team that I was going to give them the best version of me that I can possibly give them. In order to do so, I have committed to seeking counseling, starting this weekend,” Vrabel said at the time, according to ESPN.

On Wednesday, the New York Times released a detailed story about the Russini situation. Russini was actually a New York Times employee, since The Athletic is owned by the New York Times. It’s a doozie of a report, too.

In the story, which is around 5,000 words, the Times says that Russini was making around $800,000 per year. 

“The tabloid drama stunned the Times Company. Ms. Russini was not just any reporter,” the publication stated. “The Athletic paid her an annual salary of close to $800,000, according to a former manager who had knowledge of her salary negotiation. This would have made her one of the highest-paid journalists at the Times Company.”

That figure is certainly drawing attention, since it’s a pretty healthy salary. Of course, some NFL insiders make in the millions, so one has to put it into perspective.

Aside from the Russini and Vrabel situation, the Patriots are looking strong for 2026. Maybe they can put the drama behind them and make the upcoming season about football.