New Orleans – NFL said Wednesday that it would play its first game in Australia in 2026 as the league increases its international image.
The regular season’s game will be held at 100,000 -capable Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) and Los Angeles Ramus will be presented as a match -up home team that will likely be the season opener for both teams –
The league said Australia is a major global market for the NFL, which is the basis of a growing 6.6 million fans across the country.
“This is an important step that indicates the ambitions of global development and the vision of taking our game to more and more corners of the world,” said Peter O’Rely, Executive Vice President of NFL. “We are very happy.”
The game said the game would end a multi -faceted commitment to play the game in the Australian game’s self -made Melbourne.
“Australia is a really important market for the NFL globally,” he said. “This is a passionate culture of sports.”
Kevin Demov, president of team operations, said the club was anxious for the trip, though that means abandoning domestic games at the Sophie Stadium.
“We are a franchise that dreams, and how much better opportunity is there to play a regular season in Australia than playing a regular season,” Demov said at a news conference.
He added, “Since the NFL opened international programming, we have marketing rights in Australia, and we cannot be excited.” “As soon as this opportunity came, we first raised our hands and said that we want to play in this first game in Australia.”
The Australian Football League (AFL) has called on the use of MCG during its season, but said it has supported the NFL game at the iconic stadium, even if it resulted in a scheduling collision.
“We have a long history of working with governments and locations to support sports and cultural programs,” said a high flight of local Australian Rules Football Code. “We will continue to work together to ensure that there are arrangements for the best experiences of both worlds for our AFL fans and the broader community.”
At the beginning of this season with a game in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, the NFL made its first offer in South America.
Next season, NFL has to play three games in London, one game in Berlin and a game in Madrid.
