For better or for worse, the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will meet for the NFL’s first-ever regular-season game held in Australia on Sept. 10 (Sept. 11 locally) of this year.
On Friday, NFL commissioner Roger Goodell spoke at Melbourne Cricket Ground and made quite a promise to local fans of American football about what is to come.
NFL believes in Australia as a market
“There’s no question that we’re going to be playing here again,” Goodell insisted, per Reuters. “Our view is that we’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-off. This isn’t a circus. This is something that’s an investment in this, in this market, and we believe that this is long-term and will be great for the NFL long term.”
Goodell hinted that the league could put another regular-season game in Australia as soon as 2027. Meanwhile, it’s no secret that the league’s long-term desire is to get to 16 regular-season games internationally every year as part of shifting to a schedule that will involve teams playing 18 regular-season games and two preseason contests per campaign.
The NFL would prefer to adopt such a schedule as soon as 2027. However, the NFL Players Association must agree to any plan for expanding the season per the terms of the collective bargaining agreement that runs through the 2030 campaign.
Roger Goodell responds to 49ers’ Kyle Shanahan about Australia comments
Earlier this spring, 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan made it known he wasn’t thrilled about his club having “to go 19 hours away to play a game” that counts. Shanahan also said at that time he felt “there’s not much benefit to” teams having to participate in regular-season matchups held in Australia.
“Coach Shanahan is enthusiastic and a great football coach, but also someone who truly understands the importance of expanding our game globally. But his job is to win,” Goodell said Friday in response to Shanahan’s comments. “We’re going to make it a great experience for the team … (but) they got to make sure that they’re able to continue the competitiveness because this game is real, this counts and they’ll go on a Week 2 as soon as they leave here.”
In short, the NFL basically doesn’t care how coaches and players feel about taking part in international games. Such contests aren’t going anywhere, and it’s possible that a Super Bowl could one day be held in Australia.