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The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will meet in Melbourne for the first game of the NFL regular season in Australia. The league announced the date and time of the historic matchup on Wednesday.
The next clash between the NFC West rivals is scheduled for September 11. Kickoff is scheduled for 10:35 a.m. local time on Friday – 8:35 p.m. ET on Thursday. Details on how fans can tune in are still unclear.
“We are delighted to begin our season in Melbourne, enhancing an already historic moment for both the NFL and the Rams,” Rams international director Stephanie Cheng said in a statement.
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The NFL shield logo on the field at SoFi Stadium on November 25, 2024 in Inglewood, California. (Kirby Lee/magn Images)
“Every time members of our organization visit us, including earlier this month, we see first-hand the growing enthusiasm of the people of Melbourne in anticipation of this game.”
The match will be played at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
A general view of the MCG during the first day of the Fourth Test of the 2025/26 Ashes Series between Australia and England at Melbourne Cricket Ground on December 26, 2025 in Melbourne, Australia. (Morgan Hancock – CA/Cricket Australia via Getty Images)
The NFL also confirmed its plans to start the next season on Wednesday night, a day before Thursday’s traditional opener.
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When the reigning Super Bowl champion Seattle Seahawks host a yet-to-be-announced opponent on Sept. 9, it will be just the second time in league history that a season begins on a Wednesday.
Sam Darnold of the Seattle Seahawks celebrates with the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning Super Bowl LX against the New England Patriots at Levi’s Stadium on February 8, 2026 in Santa Clara, California. (Ronald Martínez/Getty Images)
The only other time the first game of the NFL season was played on a Wednesday was in 2012, when the Dallas Cowboys visited the New York Giants. The game was moved from its usual Thursday spot that year because President Barack Obama was to speak that night at the Democratic National Convention.
The NFL had played Week 1 games in Brazil the past two seasons on the first Friday night in September.
While Wednesday games were played occasionally in the NFL’s early years, this will be just the fifth since 1950. There were two Christmas Day games that fell on a Wednesday in 2024, one in 2022 that was delayed due to COVID-19 and the first game in 2012.
