NEW ORLEANS — The NFL is expanding its international footprint to Australia.
The league announced Wednesday that it will be playing a regular-season game in 2026 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, a venue that holds close to 100,000 spectators. The Los Angeles Rams will be the home team for that game, part of a multiyear commitment to play in Melbourne.
“This is a big statement,” NFL executive Peter O’Reilly said. “Probably a few years ago, you may not have thought this was a reality. I’d say the commissioner, the 32 (team) owners, there’s a commitment to become a true global sport property. That means expanding our footprint, that means going to different parts of the world and exposing more fans around the world, in this case fans in Australia and Melbourne, to our great sport.”
O’Reilly said the game will likely be played in the first week of the season to give the teams extra time to acclimate to the time zone and promote the NFL before the game. It would likely be scheduled for prime time on the East Coast of the United States, which could mean a start time of close to noon in Melbourne.
The NFL opened an academy in Australia last year to help develop promising teenagers in the Asia-Pacific region into college and pro football prospects. The Super Bowl being played Sunday in New Orleans features Australia’s most successful NFL player: left tackle Jordan Mailata of the Philadelphia Eagles, who are facing the Kansas City Chiefs.
The Rams have had marketing rights in Australia since the NFL started its international marketing program in 2022.
“We could not be more excited,” said Kevin Demoff, the team’s president. “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 NFL hopes committing to Australia will help boost the chances that flag football will be part of the 2032 Olympics set to be held there in Brisbane. Flag football will make its Olympic debut in Los Angeles in 2028, and a decision on whether it will be part of the 2032 Summer Games will be made in the next few years.
Australia will be the seventh country outside the United States to host an NFL regular-season game. The league has played games in England annually since 2007 and has also played games in Brazil, Canada, Germany and Mexico. The Miami Dolphins will be the hosts for the first game in Spain in 2025 at the home of soccer superpower Real Madrid.
As of the 2025 season, the NFL can schedule up to eight league-operated regular-season games internationally.
London will host three games next season, two at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium and one at Wembley Stadium. The Cleveland Browns and the New York Jets are the home teams at Tottenham, with the Jacksonville Jaguars hosting at Wembley.
The Indianapolis Colts will be the home team for a game in Berlin at Olympic Stadium.
O’Reilly also said the league is committed to return to Mexico after renovations to Azteca Stadium for the 2026 World Cup are finished.
This won’t be the first time a major U.S.-based sports league stages a competition in Australia. Major League Baseball held a season-opening series between the Arizona Diamondbacks and the Los Angeles Dodgers in Sydney in 2014.
There have also been several major college football games played in Australia over the years, with the most recent matchups between Rice and Stanford in 2017 and California and Hawaii in 2016.