NFL's first game in Australia: Rams and 49ers arrive in Melbourne with opposite travel strategies
On Friday, the Melbourne Cricket Ground hosts the first-ever NFL regular-season game in Australia, as the Los Angeles Rams face the San Francisco 49ers, with the two teams having taken completely opposite approaches to handling the time-zone change.
A historic game in Melbourne
Friday morning local time, the Melbourne Cricket Ground stages the first NFL regular-season game ever played in Australia, pitting NFC West rivals the Los Angeles Rams, designated as the home team, against the San Francisco 49ers. According to The New York Times, it is also the first NFL regular-season game to take place on a different calendar day locally than in the United States.
Two contrasting travel plans
The teams took starkly different approaches to preparation. The Rams, after their third practice of the week, flew overnight on Tuesday on a roughly 17-hour time-change journey, landing in Melbourne on Thursday morning — only about 28 hours before kickoff. Immediately after the game, they plan to board a 15-hour flight straight back to Los Angeles, spending barely any time in the city itself. The 49ers, by contrast, have spent nearly a week in Melbourne to adjust to local time; head coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he had barely left his hotel all week except for practice and has been waking at 1am due to jet lag. Both sides say their plans were based on advice from their own science and research staff, and acknowledge the game's outcome may be read as validation of one method over the other, though NFL officials say the result won't shape future scheduling decisions.
Part of the NFL's global push
The Melbourne game is one of a league-record nine international games this season. Commissioner Roger Goodell has set a goal of 16 international games per year, and owners already voted this spring to allow up to ten such games starting in 2027 — up from just five as recently as 2024. Australia also matters to the league because of flag football's Olympic debut in 2028 and its inclusion at the 2032 Brisbane Games.
A bigger event off the field
According to The Guardian, the Victorian government reportedly paid more than $10 million to host the match. Tickets are nearly sold out, and an 18,000-capacity NFL fan festival is running alongside the game at Melbourne Park. The match will stream on Netflix and is expected to draw the largest US television audience for any event in Australia since the 2000 Olympics. The Jonas Brothers will perform at halftime. Commissioner Goodell said Australia has around 9 million NFL fans, 2 million of whom became fans only in the past few years.
Betting and player storylines
Bookmakers are watching 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and Rams quarterback Matt Stafford, who is two touchdown passes from tying for sixth on the NFL's all-time list. Wide receiver Puka Nacua, who scored ten touchdowns last season, is also drawing attention in the props market.
