Last year, it was announced that the Los Angeles Rams would be the designated home team for the NFL’s first ever game in Australia. Now the opponent is known as the league revealed that the Rams will be taking on their NFC West rivals, the San Francisco 49ers at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Melbourne, Australia.
The Rams are one of four teams with international marketing rights in Australia as part of the NFL’s Global Markets Program, an initiative that grants global marketing rights to clubs in markets outside of the U.S. to build brand awareness and fandom.
“As we make history with the NFL and bring the first regular season game to Australia, we are pleased to take our annual match-up against our NFC West rival San Francisco 49ers to the MCG,” said Los Angeles Rams President Kevin Demoff. “Since we first secured marketing rights to the country in 2021 and more recently since the announcement of this game last year, we have seen tremendous excitement for our team from fans both in Australia and also across the world. We look forward to spending this offseason continuing to deepen our connection with the Melbourne community leading up to the game this fall.”
The choice of the 49ers as the opponent makes a lot of sense as it is a fierce rivalry that always delivers an excellent contest on the field. And like the Rams, the 49ers are also a popular franchise that will appeal to the Australian fans.
“As we continue our preparations for the NFL’s first-ever regular season game touching down at the MCG in Melbourne, we are delighted to have the San Francisco 49ers announced as the opposing team to take on the Los Angeles Rams”, said NFL Australia & New Zealand General Manager Charlotte Offord. “The 49ers are a popular franchise within the Australian market, and this matchup solidifies what we know is going to be an incredible NFL experience for our fans down under, and an important next step towards expanding our international footprint in the region.”
The NFL has made great efforts in expanding its brand internationally over the last few seasons with the NFL International Series bringing games to countries all over the world. The Rams themselves have taken part in games in the UK and Mexico City and other contests have taken place in Spain, Germany and Brazil. The NFL will also be hosting its first game in France in 2026.
Rams sign Sean McVay and Les Snead to contract extensions
The trip to Australia will be one stop on the Rams’ quest to win another Super Bowl and the franchise recently signed head coach Sean McVay and GM Les Snead to contract extensions as they try and achieve that ultimate goal.
