“It really just came down to scheduling in terms of who they were playing and it happened to be the 49ers, which we’re really excited about. It’s a divisional match-up, which is a really big game in the league.”
The game is the first of a multi-year deal with Victoria to bring NFL fixtures Downunder, but it is yet to be decided whether that will mean another game next year, or if they will instead look ahead to 2028 or 2029 to return.
The game in Melbourne will be the furthest away from the United States that a regular-season NFL game has been played, with the make-up of the city – and the fact it has a 100,000-seat stadium – and its history of high-profile sporting events making it the obvious choice for the league’s first foray to this part of the world.
The NFL will host a game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on September 11. Photo / Getty Images
“It made sense for us to be in the mix in one of the best sporting cities that Australia has. But really, the MCG is also a huge reason why we chose to play there. I mean, 100,000-seat crowd, it’s a beautiful stadium, it’s well connected to the city, Melbourne really offers our fans, not just the experience they’ll get from the NFL, but a really rich cultural experience as well. We want it to be a full week of activity and then conclude with the game. Melbourne can offer that to us.”
The recent State Of Origin rugby league match in the city served as an example of what the NFL could expect when it arrives, with a crowd of more than 91,000 turning up in the MCG for the match.
And getting to the venue is a breeze. From my accommodation at Lanson Place in the heart of the city, it’s a scenic 20-minute walk through Fitzroy Gardens – largely in a straight line to Yarra Park and the MCG. For those who don’t want to walk, a train to Richmond Station is easily navigated.
For pre-game food and drinks, the suburb of Richmond is a short train ride from the CBD with several pubs, bars and eateries serving as pre-game hubs for fans. Walking down the main street, some of the bars are already advertising their pre-NFL opening hours – some as early as 7am with the fixture getting underway around 10.35am local time.
Ahead of State Of Origin, one of those bars, the London Tavern was standing room only, with maroon and sky-blue jerseys filling the room.
From there, it was an easy, atmospheric walk to the venue among the cheering fans.
Similar scenes are expected when the NFL hits the city, with Offord expecting to see jerseys from all 32 teams around the stadium and opportunities for those who don’t have tickets to the game to get involved with activations and activities throughout the week.
“The demand that we had around the game is a real testament to the growth that we’re seeing in the market and it’s exciting. I think we’d love obviously everyone that wants to come to be able to come and that’s just not the reality. So we will be putting on other events surrounding the game to ensure that people that are coming to the game and people that aren’t have a chance to do something NFL that week and be part of the action.”
State of Origin also served as an indication of what the NFL game might look like being played on the oval, given it’s also played on a rectangular pitch, however with the NFL field being narrower, there will likely be more empty space on the sides.
State Of Origin provided an indication of what a rectangualr field looks like at the MCG, though the NFL field is smaller. Photo / Getty Images
Visit Victoria chief executive Brendan McClements said has was able to pitch the city to NFL commissioner Roger Goodell at a game in England in 2024, and it was such major events that attracted the NFL to Melbourne, but particularly the success of the Australian Open – held walking distance from the MCG at Melbourne Park.
“In the conversation I’ve had with the commissioner and, in fact around the announcement date, one of the things that was clearly articulated was the number of people in his world who’d visited the Australian Open tennis. And so he was constantly getting feedback from his social network around how Melbourne turns up, how Victoria turns up at these events,” McClements said.
“Not that I knew it fully at the time, but the NFL’s and the NFL commissioner’s mindset was ‘yeah, I think we can trust Melbourne with what we do because what we see and what I hear through the tennis in particular gives me a great deal of confidence that Melbourne is the right place for us to find a home’.”
There was plenty of interest in the fixture from the moment registrations of interest for tickets went live. Offord said that the registry pushed 165,000 fans, and tickets had sold well for the game with only a small number still available.
McClements said the event had sold tickets in 35 countries and despite the proximity, New Zealand was only the second-biggest international market, behind the United States.
A large contingent of American fans are expected to visit Melbourne for the Los Angeles Rams’ clash with the San Francisco 49ers at the MCG. Photo / Getty Images
“The US numbers have surprised on the upside for us. We didn’t quite realise the demand was there for the US. We’ll have to wait for the game to take place, but the expectation is again 90 to 100,000 people. I think we’ll see a very significant out-of-state representation in that crowd,” McClements said.
“I don’t know the veracity of this number, but one of the San Francisco 49ers team members the other day, one of the executives there, their sense is there may be as many as 10,000 coming out of America for the game.
“That would be a fantastic result. A very high-yielding market from an economic perspective, it’s one of our highest-yielding markets, American tourists. We’ve used the NFL to help us secure some more aviation services, so Delta was able to be brought into the family to provide some additional capacity into Melbourne as part of the overall strategy behind how we work on the US.
“I think it’s likely they’ll stay a little bit longer than an interstate visitor as well. So, we’ve got very high expectations and yeah, we’ve been pleased at the incredible response to the NFL that we’ve seen from not just here in Australia but globally.”
And while a return to Victoria in the future was locked in, Offord would not rule out New Zealand as a potential host nation in the future. Like Australia, New Zealand has been a market teams have invested in, with the Rams, Las Vegas Raiders, Philadelphia Eagles and reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks – who have NZ-born running back George Holani on their roster – having the country as their international home markets.
New Zealand-born running back George Holani won a Super Bowl title with the Seattle Seahawks earlier this year. Photo / Getty Images
New Zealand has also seen a strong uptake of the NFL’s Flag Football programme, which Offord said had been a key driver in the game’s growth across both Australia and New Zealand.
“You know what, honestly, never say never,” Offord said of the NFL hosting a game in New Zealand in the future.
“We are expanding our games dramatically as you’ve seen from just one game in 2007 to now nine international games this year and I expect that over the course of the next few years that inventory will expand even further. Whether New Zealand gets thrown into the mix is TBD, but I think certainly from what I’ve seen as the league is really putting effort into expanding globally, anything could really happen at this point.”
The writer travelled courtesy of Visit Victoria.
Christopher Reive joined the Herald sports team in 2017, bringing the same versatility to his coverage as he does to his sports viewing habits.