NEW ORLEANS — The NFL is officially headed Down Under. The league is putting a regular-season game in Australia for the first time and that will take place in 2026.
The Los Angeles Rams will serve as the home team for the historical game, which will be played in Melbourne. Although there were reports that the Philadelphia Eagles would also be playing in Australia, that won’t be the case. With the Rams serving as the home team, that means that their opponent will be one of the nine teams they’re scheduled to play at home in 2026 (Cardinals, 49ers, Seahawks, Giants, Cowboys, Chiefs, Chargers, TBD NFC North team, TBD AFC East team). The opponent will be announced at a later date.
The game will be played at the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG), which has a capacity of just over 100,000 fans.
“Expanding to Melbourne, Australia, a beautiful city with a rich sports history, underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth,” NFL commissioner Roger Goodell said in a statement. “Together with the Victorian State Government, Visit Victoria and the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and with the Los Angeles Rams in 2026, we look forward to making history in what is an important market for the NFL and a significant next step in expanding our international footprint.”
Rams owner Stan Kroenke said his team is thrilled to be making the historical trip.
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“When we first identified Australia as one of our global markets, it was not only because of our passionate fans who reside there, but also because of the important role Los Angeles plays in serving as a gateway to Australia and many countries across the Pacific,” Kroenke said in a statement. “This is the next important step for both the Rams and the broader Kroenke Sports & Entertainment family to continue to expand our reach globally, and we are thrilled to work with Commissioner Goodell and the league office to make history and bring the first NFL regular-season game to Australia.”
Australia has a 16-hour time difference with the eastern time zone, which will certainly create some logistical issues for the NFL. The league hasn’t pinned down a date for the game, but NFL executive Peter O’Reilly said it would likely be a Week 1 game.
“We won’t lock into to any scheduling here, but the likely scenario would be a Week 1 game,” O’Reilly said.
O’Reilly also added that it would likely be a day game in Melbourne, which would make it a prime-time game in the United States. For example, if the game kicked off at 12:30 p.m. in Melbourne on a Friday, that would be an 8:30 p.m. ET kickoff on Thursday night in the United States.
The league has agreed to a multi-year partnership with Melbourne, so there will be more games after the 2026 season. O’Reilly noted that the NFL considered both Sydney and Perth for possibly hosting a game before ultimately settling on Melbourne. This will be the NFL’s second overall game in Australia. The Broncos and Chargers played a preseason game in Sydney back in 1999.
The NFL has been looking to expand into new cities. Not only will Melbourne be getting a game in 2026, but Berlin and Madrid will each be hosting a game for the first time in 2025.
Here’s a look at the designated home teams for each international game in 2025:
The league said that there could be more international announcements coming.
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