{"id":590577,"date":"2026-04-07T05:02:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:02:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590577\/"},"modified":"2026-04-07T05:02:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-07T05:02:08","slug":"new-nfl-bylaw-could-immediately-impact-49ers-ahead-of-season-opener","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/590577\/","title":{"rendered":"New NFL bylaw could immediately impact 49ers ahead of season opener"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>The <a href=\"https:\/\/sportsdata.usatoday.com\/football\/nfl\/teams\/san-francisco-49ers\/359\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:San Francisco 49ers;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;San Francisco 49ers&quot;}\" class=\"link \">San Francisco 49ers<\/a> will be early beneficiaries of a new bylaw adopted by the league during the owners meetings that concluded April 1.<\/p>\n<p>A new bylaw approved by NFL owners at the annual league meetings changed the way cutdown dates can work for teams traveling abroad for a Week 1 game. This season that includes the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams when they face off for their season opener on Sept. 10 Pacific Time in Melbourne, Australia.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>According to the bylaw which was <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nytimes.com\/athletic\/7165454\/2026\/04\/02\/nfl-roster-rule-changes-2026\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:described by the Athletic;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;described by the Athletic&quot;}\" class=\"link \">described by the Athletic<\/a>, the NFL can move cutdown day rules around to accommodate teams traveling internationally whose travel logistics could be impacted by the typical cut dates and the ensuing waiver periods.<\/p>\n<p>Via the Athletic:<\/p>\n<p>\u201cFor any season in which the League office schedules an international game during the first week of the regular season,\u201d the new language reads, \u201cthe League office may adjust the procedures and related dates for the roster reduction to 53 players to accommodate travel arrangements for the participating clubs.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>In each of the past two seasons, the NFL has held a game in S\u00e3o Paulo, Brazil, on the Friday of Week 1. The Philadelphia Eagles and Green Bay Packers played in this game in 2024. Last season, the Los Angeles Chargers played the Kansas City Chiefs in this game. Brazil requires visitors to apply for a travel visa, and that approval process can take some time.<\/p>\n<p>The Chargers, for instance, left for Brazil on Tuesday, Sept. 2, last year. Cutdown day was a week prior on Tuesday, Aug. 26. Waiver claims for players waived on cutdown day were processed on Wednesday, Aug. 27. So there was a window of less than a week between waiver claims being processed and the Chargers leaving for their international trip. That is a tight timeline for bringing a claimed player in and managing logistics such as foreign visas.<\/p>\n<p>This year, the window will be even shorter and the travel even longer when the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams open the season in Melbourne, Australia, on Thursday, Sept. 10. The 49ers are expected to travel to Australia about five to seven days ahead of the game.<\/p>\n<p>With the new language, the league can potentially give these traveling teams more time for logistics. The specific changes to the rules and procedures are to be determined.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe League office will advise all clubs of any such changes in advance via Player Personnel memoranda,\u201d the amended bylaw reads.<\/p>\n<p>Cutdown day for the 2026 season is slated for Sept. 1 at 1:00pm Pacific Time. San Francisco could leave for Australia as early as Sept. 3. With the way waiver claims are processed, the 49ers may have an issue getting travel arrangements for players who are initially waived before being brought back to the 53-man roster.<\/p>\n<p>We could see the league immediately put its new bylaw into play for the 49ers and Rams with such a massive haul ahead of them to play on another continent.<\/p>\n<p>Advertisement<\/p>\n<p>More 49ers: <a href=\"https:\/\/sports.yahoo.com\/articles\/why-49ers-could-interest-45-004520518.html\" data-ylk=\"slk:Why 49ers could have interest in 45-TD RB prospect in 2026 NFL draft;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas;outcm:mb_qualified_link;_E:mb_qualified_link;ct:story;\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;Why 49ers could have interest in 45-TD RB prospect in 2026 NFL draft&quot;}\" class=\"link  yahoo-link\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Why 49ers could have interest in 45-TD RB prospect in 2026 NFL draft<\/a><\/p>\n<p>This article originally appeared on Niners Wire: <a href=\"https:\/\/ninerswire.usatoday.com\/story\/sports\/nfl\/niners\/2026\/04\/06\/49ers-rams-roster-cutdown-dates-nfl-bylaw\/89494086007\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" data-ylk=\"slk:49ers vs. Rams: New NFL bylaw could change roster cutdown dates;elm:context_link;itc:0;sec:content-canvas\" data-yga=\"{&quot;yLinkElement&quot;:&quot;context_link&quot;,&quot;yModuleName&quot;:&quot;content-canvas&quot;,&quot;yLinkText&quot;:&quot;49ers vs. Rams&quot;}\" class=\"link \">49ers vs. Rams: New NFL bylaw could change roster cutdown dates<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The San Francisco 49ers will be early beneficiaries of a new bylaw adopted by the league during the&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":590578,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[559],"tags":[64,63,288443,288445,1243,1240,31028,3052,1263,593,1260,6113,1262,85,225351,288444,255759],"class_list":{"0":"post-590577","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-nfl","8":"tag-au","9":"tag-australia","10":"tag-bylaw","11":"tag-cutdown-day","12":"tag-green-bay-packers","13":"tag-kansas-city-chiefs","14":"tag-league-office","15":"tag-los-angeles-chargers","16":"tag-los-angeles-rams","17":"tag-nfl","18":"tag-philadelphia-eagles","19":"tag-san-francisco","20":"tag-san-francisco-49ers","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-the-49ers","23":"tag-travel-arrangements","24":"tag-travel-logistics"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590577","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=590577"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/590577\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/590578"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=590577"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=590577"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=590577"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}