Riders on popular bike routes that converge around the MCG face detours for the American NFL game being staged at the ground on Friday 11 September.
Unlike major Australian Rules and Test Cricket games, and Taylor Swift concerts, when bike routes to and through the MCG precinct remain open, the NFL event has obtained control of all of Yarra Park and surrounding streets, and has excluded bikes for a 24-hour period leading up to and after the game.
The match is scheduled to start at 10.35am local time for TV broadcast on the US West Coast on Thursday evening their time.
Key bike routes, including a strategic cycling corridor, will therefore have to be closed off and substituted with lengthy detours that riders may find difficult on a weekday commute when traffic will be hectic around the MCG, especially in the morning peak.
It is not known whether the Victorian Government, which paid millions of dollars to lure the game to Melbourne, was aware of these ramifications when it signed the deal with the NFL, which has an annual income of $14.5 billion.
The map below, provided by the event, shows the detour routes in blue.
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