NFL in Australia: Why are Los Angeles Rams playing San Francisco 49ers in Melbourne?

The NFL has so far played regular-season games in seven international countries but this week's trip to Australia represents a new frontier.

It is the NFL's first game in the Asia-Pacific region. The USA's biggest sports league is making its longest-ever road trip for the first of a record nine international games in 2026.

It will take place about 10,000 miles from the NFL's New York headquarters, in front of about 100,000 fans at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground.

That means the Los Angeles Rams will 'host' the San Francisco 49ers on a more open oval field on Friday (01:35 BST).

But when NFL commissioner Roger Goodell visited the MCG for the first time in April, he said the historic arena "speaks to you", and it says "this is the right place to be".

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Live NFL games have been broadcast in Australia since 1995 and a pre-season exhibition game was held in Sydney in 1999.

Local interest has soared since 2022, though, when the NFL made the global growth of American football a strategic priority.

The league pivoted away from a potential overseas franchise to playing more games internationally. It has invested in new markets before deciding whether to take a game there, holding year-round events to build the fanbase.

Australian players Jordan Mailata (Philadelphia) and Michael Dickson (Seattle) have also captured the imagination down under, playing for the past two Super Bowl winners.

According to the league, the number of fans in Australia has nearly doubled since 2022 to 8.8 million - almost one in three of the country's entire population.

That includes those flooding to one of the world's fastest-growing sports, flag football - the non-contact version of American football.

The NFL played a big part in flag being approved for its Olympic debut at Los Angeles 2028 and has expanded the sport from 10 schools in Australia to more than 500.

Now it aims to help flag football secure a spot at Brisbane 2032, with NFL executive Peter O'Reilly acknowledging that is a key reason for playing in Australia.

Being a sports-mad country, Australia was always on the NFL's radar, and after testing long-distance logistics with trips to Brazil in 2024 and 2025, the league felt ready to head down under.

Sydney and Perth were in the running but Melbourne is regarded as the nation's sports capital and the MCG is the biggest stadium in the southern hemisphere.

A deal was announced in February 2025, during Super Bowl week, and while some fans expressed anger at ticket prices when they went on sale in April 2026, they sold out in minutes.

The state of Victoria is reportedly paying up to A$15m , external (£8m) for the right to host the game but expects one of the state's biggest returns. Dublin enjoyed a tenfold return on its investment to stage its first NFL game last September.

Almost 50% of the MCG tickets were bought by fans outside Victoria or overseas, so about 50,000 fans will visit Melbourne this week.

'The G' is also right next to Melbourne Park, home of tennis' Australian Open, an ideal venue for a three-day fan festival, which began with a watch party for last night's season opener.

The NFL picked this year's Super Bowl week to announce that the 49ers will be the Rams' opponents in Melbourne, which created a buzz in Australia and California.

Not only are the Rams and 49ers regular Super Bowl contenders but they are also divisional rivals in the ultra-competitive NFC West. In addition, there is heaps of hype around the Rams.

With this season's Super Bowl being held in LA, they have gone all-in to reach the big game. First they traded for defensive stars Myles Garrett and Trent McDuffie, which cemented them as championship favourites.

Then three-time defensive player of the year Aaron Donald returned from retirement and although the 35-year-old has not travelled to Australia, Garrett and McDuffie will both make their Rams debut at the MCG.

Fred Warner, Nick Bosa and George Kittle are set to return from injury for the 49ers, with Mike Evans making his debut.

The game will be broadcast live on Netflix, reaching more than 200 countries, while the Jonas Brothers will perform a half-time show.

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California is 17 hours behind Melbourne and the flight takes about 16 hours. The previous longest for a regular-season game was about 12 hours to Sao Paulo, Brazil.

Yet the two teams have taken a completely different approach. The 49ers arrived in Melbourne last Friday while the Rams arrived the day before the game - just as they did for last year's comfortable win at Wembley over the Jacksonville Jaguars.

The huge time difference means that the game kicks off at 10:35 on Friday in Melbourne - which is Thursday evening in the United States: 17:35 on the west coast, 20:35 on the east.

While a morning start (local time) is virtually unheard of in the NFL, it's perfectly normal for fans used to watching cricket at the MCG.

The long flights and early start have thrown each teams' regular routine out of kilter. San Francisco coach Kyle Shanahan admitted he was struggling to remember what day it was.

But having the game in week one gives each team the best chance to cope with the travel demands, rather than playing it later in the season.

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The NFL has committed to playing one more game in Melbourne in the next three years, with the possibility of another.

What sets Australia apart from other countries hosting international games is that ball-carrying sports are the most popular down under.

All seven Australians in the NFL converted from rugby, basketball or Australian rules football, and Australia has a huge pool of similar athletes with transferable skills.

The NFL has pledged to provide flag football kits to every school in Australia and opened an academy on the Gold Coast as it aims to tap into that talent, which could produce an international pipeline of players targeting the Olympics and the NFL.