The San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams will face off in the NFL's first-ever Australia game, and bettors are piling on one side ahead of kick off Thursday night
LA Rams' quarterback #9 Matthew Stafford attends a training session
Bettors believe the long journey to Australia will have an impact on the outcome of 49ers vs Rams(Image: Photo by Martin KEEP / AFP via Getty Images)
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NFL bettors are piling on one side between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams ahead of their Week 1 clash in Australia.
The 2026 NFL season is officially underway, and after Wednesday night’s low-scoring slugfest between the New England Patriots and Seattle Seahawks, another enticing Week 1 clash awaits on Thursday night.
NFC West division rivals the Rams and 49ers have made the journey down under for the NFL’s first-ever game set in Australia. Kick-off is scheduled for 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday night, although locally, the game will begin at 10:35 a.m. Friday in Melbourne.
Plenty has been made about both teams’ travel schedules and how each will adjust to the 17-hour time difference.
While it remains to be seen whether either team’s strategy trumps the other, a large majority of NFL bettors have deduced how the long travel might impact both teams once they step on the field at Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The consensus among bettors isn’t on which team will win the game, which the Rams enter as narrow 2.5-point favorites. Rather, betting money is piling in on the under for total points, which is currently set at O/U 48.5.
The Rams will spend more than 30 hours on an airplane for their trip to and from Australia to play the 49ers
Melbourne Cricket Ground will host the first-ever NFL game in Australia(Image: Getty)
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At BetMGM, 86 percent of the money is on under 48.5 points to be scored in the game, compared to just 14 percent on the over. Bettors seem to believe that the long travel will have a significant impact on the energy and effectiveness of both team’s explosive offenses.
Given this will be the first-ever NFL game played in Australia, or anywhere in the world other than North America, South America, or western Europe, there is no historical precedent to go off of for how a 17-hour time difference could impact player performance.
The practical conclusion seems to be that, like any human being who has traveled across time zones and experienced jet lag, the players will feel tired, out of place, or unfamiliar with their surroundings.
Despite landing in Australia roughly 24 hours before the game is due to kick off, the Rams are expected to win the game, regardless of the final score. BetMGM customers agree, with 59 percent of the money in the game spread market on LA to cover as 2.5-point favorites.
Los Angeles enters the season as a significant favorite to win the Super Bowl at +500 odds, half the price of the team with the second-best odds, which is the Buffalo Bills at +1000.
While a Rams loss in Melbourne would not necessarily cause any panic, it certainly wouldn’t be an ideal start to the season for a team most fans expect to be the cream of the crop in the NFL this year.
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