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<\/p>\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tPublished on\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tFebruary 11, 2026\n\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
This time last year, the LA Rams announced that the MCG was their Aussie home-away-from-home. We now know they will take on rivals, the 49ers, in what is shaping up to be a controversial NFL season-opening match.<\/p>\n
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So far this year, Sydney-born Seahawks sensation Michael Dickson\u2019s six punts during Seattle\u2019s Super Bowl win are the closest an Aussie has come to NFL glory.<\/p>\n
Come the second half of 2026, however, the MCG will bring NFL fans together with \u2018The Duke\u2019 football and players from the Los Angeles Rams and the San Francisco 49ers, to witness the first official NFL game in Australian history.<\/p>\n
\u201cAs we continue our preparations for the NFL\u2019s first-ever regular season game at the MCG in Melbourne, we are delighted that the San Francisco 49ers will take on the Los Angeles Rams,\u201d says Charlotte Offord, NFL Australia & New Zealand\u2019s general manager. <\/p>\n
\u201cThe 49ers are a popular franchise within the Australian market, and this rivalry game solidifies what we know is going to be an incredible NFL experience for our fans down under.\u201d<\/p>\n
This first-of-its-kind experience will see the Rams claim the 100,000-seater MCG as their \u2018home turf,\u2019 hosting the 49ers in what LA Rams president Kevin Demoff says could be the very first game of the 2026 season. <\/p>\n<\/p>\n
\u201cWhat a great way to kick off the season and hopefully we\u2019ll treat Australia to a show with the Rams winning at the end,\u201d Demoff told Forbes on Super Bowl Sunday.<\/a> <\/p>\n \u201cEvery year over the past few years, Rams-Niners has been a primetime game \u2013 a great rivalry. Two West Coast teams and cities that Australian fans know well, and a rivalry to kick off the NFL season, likely in week one.\u201d<\/p>\n In January, the San Francisco 49ers President, Al Guido, was promoted to the CEO role, taking over from the team owner\u2019s son, Jed York<\/a>. Guido made a statement on the Melbourne game as one of his first announcements as CEO.<\/p>\n \u201cThis is a terrific opportunity to continue to support the league in its mission to grow the game of football,\u201d Guido says in a statement. \u201cWe look forward to working with the NFL to benefit local Australian communities through sport.\u201d<\/p>\n The game comes at a time when the NFL is looking to further expand its fan base outside of the US. The league opened an Australian office on the Gold Coast four years ago, and in 2024 launched the APAC NFL Academy<\/a> to cultivate American football talent on our shores. <\/p>\n There are currently 7.5 million fans in Australia, according to the organisation, a number it hopes to grow in the coming years through the non-contact \u2018Flag Football\u2019 version of the game, which will debut at the LA Olympics in 2028. <\/p>\n Four years later, it is hoped the game will continue to take root downunder, and will be played at the Brisbane \u201932 Olympic Games.<\/p>\n \u201cNFL Flag is played across all states and territories in Australia, with almost 100,000 participants currently playing the game across more than 500 schools,\u201d the NFL states. <\/p>\n The 12,000-kilometre controversy<\/p>\n The Rams-Niners matchup will be one of nine international games in the upcoming NFL season. While management of the California-based clubs have issued positive statements about the game, players have expressed concern about the travel time and distance of international games. <\/p>\n \u201cHonestly, if we\u2019re going to play in Australia or any international game, I would prefer it to be the first game of the season, because you have a lot more time to acclimate, there\u2019s more rest time as far as travelling,\u201d 49ers offensive player Kyle Juszczyk told media this week. <\/p>\n \u201cWhereas if you\u2019re doing it midseason, that throws off your whole schedule, including rest, recovery and practice schedule. If we\u2019re going to do it, let\u2019s do it Week 1.\u201d<\/p>\n The travel distance is something the Rams CEO feels can be mitigated by making the game the season opener.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s unique about Australia is the length of the trip, right? And so I think for us, proving that it can be done and be done well, that the athletes can play well, that they can recover, is going to be huge,\u201d Demoff tells Forbes.<\/p>\n Closer to home, Visit Victoria CEO Brendan McClements said the game could bring a significant economic windfall to the state.<\/p>\n \u201cSecuring Australia\u2019s first-ever\u00a0NFL\u00a0game is a powerful way to create global demand for Victoria, convert that interest into visitation and connect fans with everything our State has to offer,\u201d says Clements.<\/p>\n It is a sentiment reiterated by Victoria\u2019s Premier Jacinta Allen.<\/p>\n \u201cMelbourne is now the only city in the world to host an international Grand Slam, a Formula One Grand Prix and an\u00a0NFL\u00a0Regular Season game,\u201d Allen noted in a statement.<\/p>\n Look back on the week that was with hand-picked articles from Australia and around the world.\u00a0Sign up to the Forbes Australia newsletter here<\/a>\u00a0or\u00a0become a member here<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Published on February 11, 2026 This time last year, the LA Rams announced that the MCG was their…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":472178,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,593,85],"class_list":["post-472177","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nfl","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nfl","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472177","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=472177"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/472177\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/472178"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=472177"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=472177"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=472177"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"\"](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/02\/NFLAUNZ_2026-Melbourne-Game_16x9_Players.png\")
The 49ers will take on the Rams at the MCG in 2026. Image: NFL<\/p>\n