Hope you like 15-hour flights, NFL players, because you’re gonna be taking a lot of them from now on.
NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell made it clear Friday that this season’s game between the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams in Melbourne, Australia, is just the beginning of a long relationship.
Speaking at Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) on Friday to promote the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, he implied the league might return as soon as next season.
“There’s no question that we’re going to be playing here again,” he told reporters. “Our view is that we’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-offs. 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.”
When the commissioner was asked if a return could happen as soon as 2027, he replied, “It might.”
Goodell added that ticket sales at the 100,000-capacity Melbourne Cricket Ground have been so good that they could have sold out the September 11 game on pre-sales had they not wanted to make sure U.S.-based fans had a chance to buy some. He did stop short of claiming they might break the attendance record (105,121 in Cowboys Stadium in 2009).
“We’re going to have to talk and see how many more seats we can get in there,” he said. “So I think the record is slightly over 100 … but it’s going to be darn close, and maybe we can get there.”
Goodell also responded to comments last month by 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan that he wasn’t happy to have to open the 2026 season with a trip across the globe, saying he didn’t see the benefit for his team.
“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. “We’re going to make it a great experience for the team … (but) they have 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 two as soon as they leave here.”
How soon the NFL returns to Australia may be tied to ongoing media rights renegotiations, as the Australia game has been mentioned in reports about mini-packages the league is attempting to bundle. Of course, the league also has its fingers in pies across the globe, so Australia is competing with places like England, Germany, Brazil, Ireland, and Mexico to prove the NFL needs to keep coming back.