NFL announces the Rams will play league’s first game in Australia in 2026
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The Rams are headed Down Under.
It’s a year and a half away, but the Rams will be the home team for the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia, the league announced Wednesday.
The opponent has not been announced, but a report that it will be the Eagles is inaccurate because the Rams are the visitors at Philadelphia in 2026.
The game will be played in Melbourne at the Melbourne Cricket Ground, and the Rams will be giving up one of their SoFi Stadium games. However, because NFC teams will have nine home games that season, there still will be eight games played in Los Angeles.
Peter O’Reilly, who oversees major events for the NFL, made the announcement Wednesday afternoon along with Rams president Kevin Demoff and Charlotte Offord, general manager of NFL Australia, which was formed within the last two years.
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Although the NFL did not specify when during the season the game would be played, O’Reilly indicated it would be most logical to schedule it as an opener.
The opportunity to play in Australia was an example of the Rams’ “dream big” philosophy, Demoff said.
“And what better opportunity than to play the first regular-season game in Australia in the league’s history,” he said. “As soon as this opportunity came about, we were the first to raise our hand and say we want to play in that first game in Australia. ... For us to actually give up, the first time we’ve gone international, to give up a game at SoFi Stadium had to be a truly meaningful opportunity, and this fit the bill from the beginning.”
The Rams have made an aggressive global push, obtaining the NFL marketing rights to Australia in 2021, New Zealand in 2022 and this year Japan and South Korea. Including China and Mexico, the Rams have rights to six global markets, tied for the most in the league with the Miami Dolphins.
It was the Rams who initially explored the idea of playing in Australia, after they obtained the marketing rights, and then brought that notion — and the willingness to be the home team — to the league. Leading those discussions, along with Demoff were team executives Tony Pastoors and Stephanie Cheng.
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“As we’ve been active in Australia over the past three years, we’ve seen a tremendous amount of interest from fans and businesses alike in bringing NFL football to Australia,” said Cheng, who heads the club’s international interests. “We’re excited to be part of this game the league’s putting together.”
This global initiative not only involves the Rams, but also Stan Kroenke’s other franchises: Arsenal, the Denver Nuggets and Avalanche, and the Colorado Rapids. SoFi Stadium, which he developed, will play host to eight FIFA World Cup matches in 2026 and Super Bowl LXI in early 2027, and will be a central site for the Olympic Games in 2028.
The Rams already have played multiple international games, including four in London between 2012 and 2019. The team was to host the Kansas City Chiefs in Mexico City in 2018, but that was moved back to the L.A. Coliseum because of poor field conditions.
The 19-hour time difference between Los Angeles and Melbourne will make for an interesting scheduling challenge. This season, the Rams had a watch party in Sydney for their Thursday night matchup against the 49ers. The game aired around noon on Friday in Australia.
“This is a learning experience for the league and a learning experience for us,” said Pastoors, Rams vice president of football and business administration. “We’re fortunate to have [coach Sean McVay] on board so none of these things scare us. We’ve been, for better or worse, a traveling road show at times. So this is just another challenge, and we’re going to attack it.”
Times staff writer Gary Klein contributed to this report.
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