NFL Goes Global: First-Ever Game in Australia as League Expands Worldwide

The NFL is playing its first game in Melbourne, Australia, part of a record 9 international games in 2026 to grow American football globally.

American football is going international like never before. The NFL (National Football League — the top professional American football league in the United States) is bringing two of its teams, the San Francisco 49ers and the Los Angeles Rams, all the way to Melbourne, Australia. It's the longest distance two NFL teams have ever traveled for a game.

This is part of a big plan to make the sport popular outside the U.S. Here are the key facts:

A record 9 international games will be played in the 2026 season.
New cities getting games for the first time include Melbourne, Rio de Janeiro (Brazil), and Paris (France).
Other games will take place in London, Madrid, Munich, and Mexico City.
NFL owners have already approved 10 international games for 2027 — the maximum currently allowed.

Why is the NFL doing this? Simple: it wants more fans (and more money) around the world. Right now, almost all its viewers are American. For example, last year's game in Brazil drew 18.5 million U.S. viewers but only 1.2 million international viewers. That huge gap is what league boss Roger Goodell wants to close. He's even said he'd like up to 16 international games per season and believes a team could one day be based permanently outside the U.S.

How does the strategy work? Through the Global Markets Program, each NFL team is given marketing rights to specific countries. When a game is played there, that team becomes the "home team." The Rams, for instance, own the rights to Australia. Some choices are based on geography, others on personal ties — the Los Angeles Chargers own only Greece because their owner has Greek heritage.

The challenges: Time zones are tricky. Games scheduled for American primetime can mean odd hours abroad — the Australia game kicks off at 10:35 a.m. local time on a Friday. TV ratings for early European games have also been lower. Plus, players face long flights and jet lag.

Bottom line: The NFL is betting big on going global, but whether foreign fans truly embrace the sport remains to be seen.

This is an AI-generated summary. Read the original article at: https://www.cnbc.com/2026/09/03/nfl-rams-49ers-australia-international-expansion.html