2026 Lookahead: World Cup, Moon Travel, Grand Theft Auto VI and More

0:02Good morning Brew Daily show I'm Neil Freiman and I'm Toby Howell today get your planners out it's a preview of 2026. Here's what you need to stay ahead in the year ahead. It's Friday, January 2nd. Let's ride.

0:23Good morning. Hope you all had a great New Year's Day. Unfortunately, I'm already behind on my resolution to read 366 books. We've got a really fun special episode for you this morning, a preview of the year 2026. Of course, there will be plenty of twists and turns along the journey to next New Year's, but there are already a bunch of major events sharpied on the calendar that you'll want to know about to help you plan ahead or just get excited for. And finally, I will offer up some spicy hot predictions about what I think is going to happen this year. And Neil will tell me just how right or wrong he thinks those are.

0:57But first, a word from our sponsor, Rubric. Neil, sometimes these AI agents remind me of that over-enthusiastic gym bro who means well, but ends up dropping a weight on your foot. They are just moving too fast and not really aware of their surroundings. That couldn't be me, Toby, but that is why Rubrik Agent Cloud exists. It's the only platform that actually lets you monitor, govern, and rewind what your AI agents do. Rubrik gives you total visibility, policy guardrails, risk scoring, and that clutch rewind button that restores everything in minutes way faster than recovering from leg day. Hospitals and banks already trust it because they can't afford a digital Jimbro going wild.

1:35If your business relies on AI agents, you need the ability to monitor, govern, and rewind their actions. Right now, our listeners get exclusive early access to Rubrik Agent Cloud. Head to rubrik.com. That's R-U-B-R-I-K dot com. Rubrik dot com. Let's start with a special someone celebrating a big birthday this year, the United States of America. 2026 marks 250 years since the Declaration of Independence was signed in 1776, and the country is going all out for its semi-quincentennial. Throughout the year, you'll find any number of major events that celebrate America's founding and history, from massive firework displays to parades, historical reenactments, and an attempt at the single largest flag-waving celebration.

2:20There will also be a lot of reflecting about what it means to be an American and what America means to the world 250 years after TJ wrote about life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. Polls show that Americans are less patriotic today than ever before. A Gallup poll last year found that 58 % of U.S. adults say they're very or extremely proud to be an American compared to 87 % right after 9-11. I think it will also be interesting to see the competition for who takes center stage during this birthday celebration. Philadelphia has been kind of maneuvering itself and trying to become the epicenter because, you know, first and second Continental Congress met their Declaration of Independence was adopted in Philadelphia.

3:00So it's gritty American icon. So it's definitely trying to cement its place. But then you have Washington DC, which is the actual capital. New York is the media capital, the capital, the cultural capital. It's where Morning Brew Daily is centered. So I think each one of those cities is trying to become like the main venue for this. So it'll be interesting to see how they play their cards. This is a national celebration, though. It's going to touch every single state. Each state has its own America 250 commission. So you will see everything that you laid out happen all across the country. The security crowds and management of all this is going to be fascinating as well.

3:39How do you do security for the largest flag-waving ceremony? How do you do security for these massive gatherings that are going to happen throughout the year? So I think crowd management is a less sexier storyline, but an important one as America enters its semi-quincentennial. Nice. You nailed it. I also think a big winner for this will be history media, right? Like I imagine that Hamilton will be pretty much sold out through its run in 2026. Ken Burns just came out with an American Revolution documentary. I think people it'll be a time where people will revisit history and especially American history.

4:14And it was one of your trends for the year was that history is a booming business. And I think that's only going to get bigger this year. Speaking of media people, Taylor Sheridan, who, you know, has made every single show your dad scenes, Yellowstone, Landman, et cetera. Remember, America 250 also has to do with his eventual departure from Paramount because David Ellison, who's the owner of Paramount, was trying to get him to make a show about America 250. And he's like, don't tell me what to do. And so he is absconding to go to NBC Universal. So I don't know how you trace a through line from, you know, our founding fathers all the way through to Yellowstone and Taylor Sheridan.

4:55But there is a through line there. Somehow they're all connected. Speaking of a through line, there's another big moment in Americana this year that I want to mention. Route 66 is celebrating its 100th birthday as well. It was first declared a federal highway in 1926. It's considered the mother road of the United States, and it runs 2 ,448 miles from Chicago to Los Angeles. So if you're looking for a road trip or a vacation, all these businesses and states and cities along Route 66 are going to be doing celebrations for the 100th anniversary of that road. My embarrassing fact about Route 66 is that I thought it came from the movie Cars.

5:34I didn't know it was based off of a real road. I was young when I saw Cars, okay? You're very impressionable. So there is really a Route 66 out there. Go drive it. All right, moving on. This year also brings midterm elections where voters will express their satisfaction or dissatisfaction with existing political leaders. The storyline that will dominate most election campaigns is affordability. According to a recent Politico poll, nearly half of all Americans are struggling under the pressures of groceries, utility bills, health care, housing and transportation. The same poll revealed that more than a quarter of respondents said they skipped a medical checkup because of costs within the last two years.

6:14It also shows that leisure activities seem out of reach for many, with 37 percent saying they could not afford to go to a sports event with their friends or family. So as these election campaigns ramp up, Neil, I think the A word is on top of a lot of people's minds. We could be seeing a redux of 2024, which was the largest election year in the history of the world. And that was known as the inflation election. Every governing party facing election in a developed country that year lost vote share, which was the first time that it ever happened on record in 120 years. That was a rebuke of leaders because everyone around the world was facing inflation concerns that year.

6:56They booted the party leadership because they couldn't afford the cost of living. Seems like those problems have not gone away as we enter 2026. And right now, at least in the United States, the Republicans control the White House and both chambers of Congress. I was checking out Kalshi, and we recorded this in the middle of December. As of then, Democrats had a 74 percent chance of winning back control of the House. Republicans did have a 67 percent chance of keeping the Senate. A lot of that has to do with how the math works out and who's up for reelection in any given midterm year. But you're right, affordability will be top concern for many voters this year.

7:32And affordability does tend to not favor the incumbent. It favors the people who are coming in and saying, hey, I can make your bills go lower. You don't. It's the people who are actually in charge that usually blame for the affordability. So on a whole, as we saw with that, you know, referendum of last year, it does tend to mean that new blood is coming in. The other issue that will dominate this election calendar is AI, namely the electricity that AI requires. There is a lot of anxiety around the country over rising electricity costs and the hungry hippo data centers that are eating up all the power.

8:06The typical AI data center uses as much electricity as 100 ,000 homes, according to the International Energy Agency. So in places like California, Georgia, Michigan, Ohio, and Texas that are data center hotspots and congressional battleground states, fast-rising electricity bills are going to play a major factor. But AI is not going down without a fight. A new pro-AI super PAC has been formed and is releasing its first set of candidate ads ahead of midterms to try and convince the public that the massive investment in this technology is in their best interest. So pro-AI versus anti-AI will likely be a defining issue as well this year.

8:45Yeah, they're calling electricity the new price of eggs. And eggs was that a big variable in the elections of a couple years ago and how those skyrocketing prices affected people's wallets. And now with data centers popping up and other things, putting pressure on the power grid, they are saying electricity is new dozen eggs. And that is what a lot of politicians will focus on. It worked out really well for the governor elects in New Jersey and Virginia. Abigail Spanberger in Virginia pledged during her campaign, her successful campaign, to lower energy bills and make data centers pay more of their share.

9:20And then in New Jersey, governor elect Mickey Sherrill, she promised to declare a state of emergency on utility costs and freeze rates. So that's what's going to be going on at a national level, at a state level. And it also be going on at your local level. If you go down to your town hall, it's probably going to be a huge fight about a data center coming in. And there will be a lot of folks who are pushing back on that, saying we don't want to pay more utility costs. You already see it in places like Tucson, which forced Amazon to pull the plug on a data center there. So from the national level to just your local town hall, electricity and data centers and AI will be a huge battleground.

9:54It's going to be a huge year for international sporting events, starting with the Winter Olympics in Milan, Cortina, Italy in February. While not as spectacular as the Summer Olympics, the Winter Games always brings the heat, whether it's rediscovering your love for curling every four years or holding your breath as a figure skater attempts a quad. Some of the big storylines going into this Winter Olympics are American snowboarding legend Chloe Kim going for her third consecutive gold in the half bite, something no one's ever done before. NHL players returning to their Olympic squad for the first time since 2014.

10:25And the sport of ski mountaineering or Scemo making its debut. I'm really pumped for Schemo, which again is probably not the most visually spectacular sport to watch because these people are literally hiking up a mountain on cross country skis. Not very fast. I mean, mountains, anyone who's trudged up a mountain before knows it's a very difficult task. So they're kind of shuffling their way up. Then they rip off these skins on the bottom of their skis and bomb down the mountain. That part's a little bit more fun. There's these transition areas. I got really into a Schemo Instagram rabbit hole, kind of following Team USA's progress.

11:00And we look pretty good, actually. I mean, we're not necessarily known for our cross-country ski prowess, but I have high hopes for Schemo. So turn it on. Give it a chance. I think it will be an interesting sub-storyline for the Olympics. As a media nerd, I'm also excited to see what NBC is going to do with relation to its coverage. It earned a lot of plaudits for what it did with Peacock back in Paris in 2024, especially Gold Zone, which was this red zone-type whip-around action hosted by Scott Hansen and others. But Scott Hansen is the guy who does NFL Red Zone, and he's so good at it. And people seem to love it as a way to catch all the different sports going on at the same time, and he's just a great host.

11:41They're bringing it back, and they're probably going to expand it even more in Milan. And I'm very excited to just see what they do with the coverage because back in 2020, Peacock dropped the ball, or 2021, really. Peacock dropped the ball, and NBC got blasted for its coverage. 2024 completely turned it around, so I'm excited to see what they do in 2026. I wonder, though, if it's going to be as effective if you cut to a schema race rather than Steph Curry with a dagger three. So no hate on the Winter Olympics, but maybe not. Sounds like you're hating a little bit on the Winter Olympics. A little bit, a little bit.

12:11All right, the month after the Olympics will be treated to the World Baseball Classic, in which 20 national teams will vie for the title of best baseball country in the world. Since it comes before the MLB season, the sport's brightest stars will be all competing, and you can only hope for the same level of drama from the last World Baseball Classic in 2023 when Shohei Otani struck out his former teammate Mike Trout to seal Japan's victory over Team USA in the championship game. I got my eye on the Czech Republic, though. Remember the Czech Republic team from the last World Baseball Classic? It's filled with amateurs.

12:41Their starting pitcher was a firefighter, and they beat a team. They secured their qualification for this year's World Baseball Classic. So they are a team of lovable underdogs going toe-to-toe with MLB players. So if you're looking for a team to root for, keep an eye on the Czech Republic. And, of course, I've got to mention this. The big kahuna of sporting events arrives this summer with the World Cup, the largest, most viewed, and most lucrative tournament in the world. And it's going to be bigger than ever this year. hosted across the three countries of North America. It'll feature an expanded field of 48 teams, 104 total games, and plenty of Trump-FIFA immigration political intrigue to boot.

13:22But hopefully that all goes away when the players hit the pitch on those sweltering days of July. Lionel Messi and Argentina are trying to repeat as champs four years after hoisting the trophy in Qatar, but heavyweights Spain, France, Brazil, Netherlands, and England stand in their way. Not the U.S., though. We probably won't compete for the title, but please just make it to the knockout stage pretty please. I'm a little nervous, Neil, a little nervous about the Socceroos from Australia. I think we can handle Paraguay though. Best case scenario, I think is quarterfinals. If we don't make it out of the group stage, I'm moving to Canada.

13:55You heard it here first. Thank goodness this is airing the day after New Year's Day. So hopefully people are a little hungover and forget I ever said that because I feel like it could come back to bite me. But I think the other main plot line again here is if the U.S. can get its act together when it comes to logistics, We keep talking about the final being at the Meadowlands in Jersey and how it's a nightmare to get there. But at least New York has some public transportation. Imagine Europeans going to a place like Dallas. How are they going to fare on a six-lane Texas highway? So logistics just always is the main storyline other than the actual fact that this is a giant sporting event to keep an eye on.

14:34How are we going to do? Come on, U.S., get your act together. Up next, we are going to the moon. Hopefully. More than a half century since humans last visited the moon, NASA wants to go back in 2026. The Artemis 2 mission, whose mandate is to establish a sustainable human presence on the moon, is planned for April, but there are some rumblings that it could launch as early as February if things go to plan. Speaking of the plan, the crew will embark on a 10-day voyage to, quote, explore the moon for scientific discovery, economic benefits, and to build the foundation for the first crewed mission to Mars.

15:08Notably, though, they're not actually landing on the lunar surface, just doing a drive-by. As for when we'll actually return to Stanley Kubrick's movie studio, I mean the moon, that will come in 2027 due to some issues with SpaceX's giant starship rocket. Neil, the space race is heating back up a little bit. And there's going to be some history made on this Artemis II mission. Victor Glover will be the first black astronaut to fly around the moon, And Jeremy Hansen will be the first Canadian astronaut to participate in a lunar mission. So excited. You said if all goes to plan, it never goes to plan.

15:43So I don't know. It's rocket science. It is rocket science. It's very hard. But hopefully Artemis 2 goes at some point this year so that Artemis 3, when we actually land on the moon for the first time since 1972, will happen before, you know, we kick the bucket. I'm also excited about what's going on in the private space sector. And I think the two words to watch there, or three words, are AI data centers. Bezos, Musk, NVIDIA, Google. Everyone is trying to get data centers into space. It'll be very interesting to see whether there's progress made there. Because as we just talked about, there's a lot of opposition to data centers here.

16:18Drives electricity prices higher. People don't want it. Maybe if we just send it into space, it'll be a lot better when the sun is shining 24 hours a day. You can't do a yearly preview without taking stock of all the entertainment rolling out in 2026. And Toby, I don't want to jinx it, but it's looking like a good movie slate this year. Wuthering Heights, Robbie, Elordi, The Drama, Zendaya, Pattinson, Super Mario Galaxy, Mario, Peach. And that's just through April. Coming up later this year are Christopher Nolan's The Odyssey, The Devil Wears Prada 2, Toy Story 5, and in the winner, let's just fast forward to then, The Third Dune and Avengers Doomsday.

16:55I am pretty pumped for this. The Odyssey, I'm just so excited for. In preparation, I read the book, and by read it, I mean I listened to it on audiobook. But again, it comes from a long oral tradition, so I feel like I still did my part. I'll say it, too. I'm excited for Avengers Doomsday. You know, I'm a typical media consumer, and bringing back Robert Downey Jr., I don't know how the heck they're going to do that. Dune, come on. I mean, the Dune movies were so fun the last couple of years, so excuse me for being very excited for this slate, but I think you're right. It is jam-packed. And then let's talk about TV.

17:27We only have the calendar for the first couple of months of 2026, but there's a lot of good shows coming back. New season of The Pit, which was this acclaimed HBO show about hospital industry. Season four. I love industry. Everyone should watch the first three seasons. There's a Game of Thrones prequel coming out. Night of the Seven Kingdoms. Bridgerton season four. Euphoria season three. And there's going to be a Scrubs reboot. And then finally, in our tour of the entertainment landscape, we have to mention the one property that never seems to come, but maybe will come in 2026. You guys know what I'm talking about?

18:01Yes, it is Grand Theft Auto 6. It was supposed to come in 2025. Then it was supposed to come in spring of 2026. And then recently they pushed it back to the fall of November of 2026. So we do actually think it's going to be released in 2026. I don't know what the internet is going to do when they run out of jokes of X happened before Grand Theft. We got the next Grand Theft Auto. So that is kind of the backbone of the internet. Maybe they'll just never release it. I think, I mean, they have to at this point. They have to. And when it comes, it should be one of the best, if not the best-selling game of all time.

18:34It's been over a decade now. People are just waiting with great anticipation to play this game. Over under Moon Landing or Grand Theft Auto, which happens first? I don't know. Maybe the next Grand Theft Auto will have a moon landing feature and then it's two birds with one stone. All right, we're going to take a quick break and come back with more 2026 right after this.

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19:42Okay, besides America's 250th birthday and Route 66 100th year anniversary, there are some other anniversaries and milestone years coming in 2026. It's the 50-year anniversary of the birth of Apple Computer, which was pretty cool. So 50 years ago, Apple was started by Steve Wozniak and Steve Jobs famously in that garage in 1976. It's the 25th anniversary of 9-11. It is the 10th anniversary of Brexit. it. And it is the 500th anniversary of the formation of the Mughal Empire. Before you throw shade at Mughal Empire, just know where the Taj Mahal came from. It was the Mughals. Shout out the Mughals.

20:22Also, shout out us. It's the third anniversary of Morning Brew Daily. We started President's Day weekend back in 2023. So just 497 years until we reached Mughal status. Also, they did give us the Taj Mahal. So we got to up our cultural impact as well. What have we given the world. Let's ride. I think that's on the same par. All right. This wouldn't be a look ahead episode without some predictions. So I fired up the old hot take machine, aka my brain, and want to run some predictions by you all. Neil, these are all correct, so no need to debate, but I'm eager to hear your thoughts. All right. My first prediction is open AI will not exist by the end of the year.

21:05I'll give you a couple of supporting data points. Let's talk. The economics just don't make sense. How can a startup continue to compete when we're talking about national scale level spending? Number two, it just won't be able to catch up to Google. Google has more data, more money, and a better model right now. How can OpenAI close the gap? It can't. And then number three, the Johnny Ive hardware collaboration that is supposed to be the next iPhone is going to flop. That one is more of vibes based because we don't know what it is yet, but unless it's some sort of really cool wearable that isn't a glasses or a pendant, I'm not very bullish on it.

21:41So all of those factors, it's going to collapse under its own weight. Yeah, I guess when was the last time a company collapsed when its product was being used by 900 million people every month? That's a really good point. But if Google starts eating into the market share, maybe the economics just aren't viable. I think it's much easier for a startup to collapse because you just don't raise another round of funding. So it could be catastrophically fast, more so than like a public company when there's more levers available for yourself. So yes, just remember one thing. And we know SoftBank is an investor in open AI.

22:14SoftBank poured$13 billion into WeWork as it was flailing to bail it out. So you always got Masayoshi-san in your corner if you need a couple of bills just to stay afloat. Yeah, it might be hyperbole to say it won't exist by the end, but maybe like Microsoft might just absorb it or something like that. I just don't think it's going to be the big name player that it is at the beginning of 2026 by the end of 2026. All right, next prediction. Netflix buys AMC. With Netflix potentially buying Warner Brothers Discovery, a lot of the hand wringing has been around the future of theatrical releases. Netflix has pinky promise to preserve them, but you want to know how to assuage some of those fears?

22:57Buy up the biggest movie chain theater in the world. AMC's market cap, I checked this morning, mid-December,$1.1 billion. Netflix is$423 billion. I think they could make it happen. Yeah, I guess, what is the growth plan there? Because we know that movie theaters are basically shrinking every single year. Fewer people are going to see movies. Box office receipts are way down what they were in 2019. If you were Netflix, what would you do with AMC to actually boost your bottom line? I think you just have the content slate to fill the movie theaters with great movies. It really would be doing a solid to the movie going community.