NEW ORLEANS :The NFL on Wednesday said it would play its first game in Australia in 2026 as the league continues to grow its international footprint.
The regular season game will be held in Melbourne at the MCG and feature the Los Angeles Rams as the designated home team in a matchup that will likely be the season opener for the teams.
Australia is a significant global market for the NFL with a growing fan base of 6.6 million across the country, the league said.
“This is a significant step which underscores the global growth ambitions and the vision to take our game to more and more corners of the world,” Peter O’Reilly, the NFL’s executive vice president, said at a press conference.
“We’re thrilled.”
O’Reilly said the game would kick off a multi-year commitment to play games in Melbourne, a city steeped in sports history.
“Australia is a really important market for the NFL globally. It’s a passionate sporting culture.”
Kevin Demoff, the Rams president of team operations, said the club was eager to sign up for the trip even though it means giving up a home game at SoFi Stadium.
“We’re a franchise that dreams big and what a better opportunity than to play the first regular season game in Australia,” Demoff said at the press conference.
“We’ve had marketing rights to Australia since the NFL opened up international programming and we could not be more excited.
“As soon as this opportunity came about, we were the first to raise our hands and say we want to play in that first game in Australia.”
The league made its first foray into South America at the beginning of this season with a game in Sao Paulo.
Next season the NFL is scheduled to play three games in London, a game in Berlin and one in Madrid.
(Editing by Toby Davis)
