Major sporting events have always had a special place in Melbourne. It's the home of the AFL grand final, Australian Open tennis, Formula One's season opening race and the Melbourne Cup, just to name a few. And this Friday morning it will become the host of an historic NFL game. It's the culmination of sporting connections between a major American sport and Australia that goes back to 1908.
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TRANSCRIPT
There's been plenty of local support ahead of the NFL's big debut down under.
The San Francisco 49ers take on the Los Angeles Rams at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday morning ((Sept 11)).
It will be the league's first regular-season game in Australia, and just the second game overall of the 2026 season.
The match takes place on Friday morning, with kick-off at 10:35am ((AEST)).
This is to cater for the Thursday night TV audience in the US, and tens of millions are set to tune in right around the world on Netflix, which has the global rights to the game.
The NFL has a four-year contract with Victoria to host at least two games in Melbourne, with an option for a third.
So, how did the NFL land in Victoria?
It's a part of the NFL’s International Series, which started in earnest back in 2007 at Wembley Stadium in London.
The Victorian government beat out serious bids from both New South Wales and Western Australia to hosts these games, and is thought to be paying the N-F-L about $15 million per game.
With the amount of tourism and entertainment dollars being spent this week, that price is looking like a bargain.
It's among nine international matches scheduled this season - including matches in Paris, Rio De Janeiro, Munich, Madrid, and London, and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell has expressed interest in having every team play once in a foreign market each season.
Proper games have also been staged in Germany, Brazil, Mexico and Canada before.
While exhibition games between NFL teams have been played beyond America’s borders since 1969, including a match-up between the Denver Broncos and San Diego Chargers in Sydney in 1999.
In fact, the largest crowd in NFL history is 112,376 at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City, 1994.
Other stadia have also hosted NFL regular season games outside the United States including the Bernabéu in Madrid, Croke Park in Dublin, Twickenham in London, plus stadiums in Berlin, Munich, Frankfurt and Sao Paulo in Brazil.
The NFL has ramped up international efforts in recent times by inviting teams to apply for international marketing rights for various countries.
Here's 49ers star Christian McCafrey:
"We are fired up man. This has been such a cool experience. There were question marks when we heard we were playing in Australia. Since we got here, it has been so cool. The people are unbelievable, the food's incredible, the coffee is great. The atmosphere, you can already feel it, it's been so much fun and we are super fired up we're here."
Four teams have been given the rights to Australia and New Zealand - the Los Angeles Rams, Philadelphia Eagles, Las Vegas Raiders, and the reigning Super Bowl champions, the Seattle Seahawks.
Therein lies one of the ironies of this week
The Rams are one of Australia's designated teams - but they're not here until 24 hours before the game, electing to arrive late, electing to try to stay on US time to avoid jetlag - a fly-in, fly-out mission.
Despite the marketing efforts they've put in in recent years, their thunder has been stolen by one of their arch rivals, the 49ers, who have taken the opposite approach, arriving in Melbourne seven days before kickoff.
They have been taking in some of the sights and sounds of Melbourne, and winning a lot of local hearts in the process.
Already one of the NFL's more popular teams, it's now even more likely there will be a lot more 49ers fans than Rams fans amongst the 100,000 at the MCG on Friday.
Ironically, 49ers coach Kyle Shanahan was perhaps the loudest complainers when this game was scheduled earlier this year.
“Nothing against this city (Mebourne). It looks awesome. People seem really cool. Makes me want to come back and visit with my family. But, we have 17 games. We play once a week so we are all about business right now. The players got a day off and some went out and also went out for dinner. It's harder the way we do stuff. My message to the players was to enjoy their one day off, get hydrated and get used to the time difference. And we have done that."
It's not the first time two American teams will take to the hallowed ground of the MCG - the first American football match played there was in 1908, between sailors of the U-S-S Minnesota and the U-S-S Kentucky.
In fact, the Melbourne Cricket Ground was commandeered as a military base for the U-S during World War Two.
American football was even played at the Punt Road Oval adjacent to the MCG during that time.
Before World War Two, records show a match between U-S sailors visiting Australian ports in 1925.
With the NFL gradually expanding its global reach, the league is no doubt hoping to increase the popularity and presence of the game beyond its shores, despite not having an international competition outside of the United States.
It's already incredibly popular back home in the US - 83 of the 100 most-watched television shows in the United States in 2025 were NFL games.
