NFL Melbourne live: LA Rams vs San Francisco 49ers at the MCG

Ahead of the NFL's debut at the MCG, the San Francisco 49ers have embraced Australia and been embraced right back. But have the LA Rams missed an opportunity to throw their arms around the locals, particularly given this is supposed to be their party?

You can read Simon Smale's full piece by tapping the link below.

Here's a pub quiz stat for you: the MCG will become the fifth stadium to host an NFL game and the opening/closing ceremony of an Olympic Games.

The Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum (1932, 1984), Berlin's Olympiastadion (1936), London's Wembley (1940) and the Estádio do Maracanã in Rio de Janeiro (2016) have all hosted an Olympic Games opening ceremony, as did the MCG in 1956.

The Stade de France (closing ceremony at Paris 2024) will join that list when it hosts its first game later in the season.

Given the Rams are the home team, they will now have hosted matches at two different Olympic stadiums, having played at the Coliseum between 1946 and 1979 and 2016 and 2019.

Perhaps less surprisingly, the MCG is the first stadium to have hosted a Cricket World Cup final and an NFL regular-season game, so there is that.

At 100,022, the stadium has the largest capacity of any that the league will use this season.

Heading into the 2026 season, there have been 62 regular-season NFL games played outside the US.

Starting in 2005 with Mexico City, the NFL has gradually expanded its global reach, with games in nine different cities so far, with two more added in 2026.

Melbourne, Paris and Rio de Janeiro join London, Mexico City, Toronto, Berlin, Frankfurt, Munich, São Paulo and Madrid in hosting regular-season matches.

The idea is to spread the gospel and increase the global presence of a league that has no international competition outside the US.

I've been here for grand finals and Boxing Day Tests, and I can safely say that there has never been such a great atmosphere outside the stadium.

We are still hours away from kick-off, and fans are streaming in from all corners of the planet, it seems.

The Netflix broadcast is shooting a pre-game show from outside the MCG, and John Farnham is blaring too.

Absolutely brilliant scenes.

It may be early on a Friday morning, but everyone is absolutely up for this.

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