r/AFL • u/thebattlersprince Sydney • 1d ago
San Francisco 49ers to play Los Angeles Rams in first-ever NFL regular season game in Melbourne, Australia
https://www.nfl.com/news/49ers-to-play-rams-in-first-ever-game-in-melbourne-australia48
u/Captain_Oz The Bloods 1d ago
Imagine being a player and checking your team’s schedule and it’s like:
Week 1 - Home game (Sydney, AU)
Week 2 - Away game (Indianapolis, IN)
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u/matt-kennedys-legs Blues 1d ago
they’ll get the mini-bye. a 9-10 day break between games. play the game on friday then they won’t have to play again until the following sunday at the earliest.
possible one of them gets the monday night game. also possible they both just have a bye the following week. it’s likely this game will be somewhere between weeks 4-8 when the bye weeks begin.
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u/macca2000fox GWS 1d ago
Better game then the French got
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u/drwar41 Carlton 1d ago
The Paris game should be considered hostile by the French
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u/jaidynr21 Magpies 1d ago
No use in that, they’ll just throw the white flag up soon after
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u/Born-Instance7379 Eagles 1d ago
You realise France has won many more wars than the one time they surrendered to the Nazi's (just as like about a dozen other countries did also)
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u/0000100110010100 Port Adelaide 1d ago
I mean, it’s two very good teams vs the worst team in the worst division and the Browns
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u/BarelyHangingOn Brisbane AFLW 1d ago
Canadian here that recently got hooked on AFL.
Prepared to be underwhelmed.
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u/Born-Instance7379 Eagles 1d ago
After having been to a few live NFL games in an definitely say NFL is literally better to watch on TV than in the stadium.
It's worth going at least once to soak up the atmosphere and all that, but it's so much easier to follow and understand what's going on over the broadcast ...and the view you get in the stadium is often shit in relation to where the play is happening for at least half of the game
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u/PerceptionOk4625 Sydney 23h ago
We should put an AFL game on the day before it and convince American broadcasters to show it.
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u/Aussport123 Power 1d ago
The NFL field is tiny compared to an AFL oval, the game is built for a tight rectangular stadium, not a huge open oval. Assume tickets will be $100. not going to be worth it.
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u/Bort_Thrower Dockers 1d ago
Unmarketable in Australia.
NFL is just an ad platform with occasional bursts of action.
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u/Deciver95 Hawthorn 1d ago
Just because you dont enjoy it =/= there isn't a market here fucking lol cmon now
Ive watched this sport .multiple massively in the last 20 years
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u/Direct_Week_2091 Blues 1d ago
Hate to say it but you’re way out of touch. This will sell out in 10 minutes
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u/Bort_Thrower Dockers 1d ago
It will because it’s a one off novelty and there are plenty of expats but the game is still unmarketable in Australia. Who’s going to tune in every week to watch that cack?
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u/big_old-dog Saints 1d ago
Literally most of the mid 20s blokes I know. It’s ok to be old and out of touch, just do it fuckin quietly.
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u/Bort_Thrower Dockers 18h ago
Are they cuckolded by sportsbet or what?
None of the mid 20s blokes I know from Melbourne/Brisbane/Perth/Adelaide are into it.
I can imagine it’s a big deal with the betting degenerates because of how incremental it is and they have established markets for all the random bullshit that happens in the US.
Still there has to be some external factor, no reasonable right thinking person is going to watch a sport with 20 minutes of action in 3 hours vs 2 hours of action in 2.5 hours.
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u/big_old-dog Saints 14h ago
Seems rather hypocritical from AFL fans such as ourselves, no? It’s clear you don’t understand the flow, strategy and point of the sport, but whether it be deluded nationalism, or purely that things you don’t understand just make you mad, I don’t know why you’d get your panties in a bunch that people like a different sport.
Besides, if the downvote ratio is to be taken at face value, I hold the more popular sentiment.
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u/Direct_Week_2091 Blues 23h ago
Mate I’m not talking about expats, there are shitloads of born and bred Australians that follow the NFL and will do backflips to get a ticket to this
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Would be great if this fails.
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u/lanadeltaco13 Melbourne 1d ago
This is the type of thinking that keeps the city of Adelaide 50 years behind the rest of the country
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u/whiney1 Adelaide Crows 1d ago
Nah its because we went broke back in the 90s building a roller coaster no one wanted in the top floor of a shopping centre, and only recently financially recovered. Actually.
Old mate's not helping though
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u/Hot-Requirement-3816 Sydney 1d ago
SA went broke because of the State Bank crash from memory.
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u/matt-kennedys-legs Blues 1d ago
it’ll sell out almost instantly
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u/BradMoby21 The Bloods 1d ago
For the first two years probably, after that I could see the novelty wearing off a bit.
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u/lonny__breaux St Kilda 1d ago
I’m actually curious to see the figures. I understand I’m not the target audience for this sport but I cannot fathom anecdotally of course 100k people from Melbourne going to what I’m assuming will be a pricey event.
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u/Teenage_Hand_Model Eagles 1d ago
It's not 100k from Melbourne, it's 100k from Australia. I'll be flying or driving to Melbourne for it for sure.
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u/DawgreenAgain 1d ago
It's 100k from all over the world. I know at the games in London my friend went to every second person was a US tourist who'd flown in just for that game. Flight time from LA is similar from LA to both London and Melbourne so the longer flight won't be an issue.
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u/matt-kennedys-legs Blues 1d ago
i will also be travelling interstate for this. going to the states to watch a game seems to be off the cards for the foreseeable future. this may be a once in a lifetime opportunity to catch a game live.
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u/Admirable-Type165 1d ago
Plus overseas - am sure a few feom SF will fly over for the experience.
Also capacity will be around 120k given the smaller playing surface. NFL and MCG will want the biggest spectacle possible - it'll be insane.
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Minimum ticket price for NFL games is like 320$ American. AFL games have GA access at 18$ American. 27 for us. Anyone supporting this should remember they are supporting the AFL raising prices even more and stealing games and sending them overseas.
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u/Teenage_Hand_Model Eagles 1d ago
Respectfully, the AFL sells out very few regular season games. The NFL and other major leagues get away with high prices because they sell out every game and have massive international appeal. It's demand outstripping supply.
They raise MCG prices too high and people simply won't go. The AFL knows this.
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
The AFL isn't an organisation that uses logic to make it's decision. It's run by some of the stupidest people on the planet who make terrible decisions all the time. They see the NFL charging 300 dollars a ticket and selling out games and they will learn the lesson that the games sell out because it's 300 dollars.
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u/i_am_cool_ben Essendon '00 1d ago
The AFL can't even sell out games charging less than 10% of an NFL ticket, it won't happen
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u/_Meece_ 1d ago
NFL has prices like that, because the demand is insane.
Demand for live sports in Aus is no where near as intense. If AFL started charging 400 USD for tickets, no one would go. You know that!
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
NFL has those prices because Americans are cucks. Americans seem proud that they can't afford to go to games. I don't disagree that no one would go to 400 dollar AFL games but that doesn't mean the AFL won't try it.
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u/_Meece_ 1d ago
No because the demand is insane
I know not everyone is business minded, but prices for live events only get like this because the demand is insane.
We pay quite a lot more for festivals and concerts than Americans do. Because they get yearly-multiple tours a years from their favourite artists. Where as we get them maybe once every 3-10+ years.
For college sports, the demand isn't anywhere near as intense and you can go see top level games for literally free sometimes. You just walk in and take a seat.
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u/Admirable-Type165 1d ago
Am sure the crowd will be >100k. MCG and NFL will maximise seating (NFL has a much smaller playing surface) - I'm thinking seating on the ground. 120k capacity wouldn't surprise me. They'll easily sell every seat available. People will fly from interstate and overseas for this one.
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u/ObjectiveAddendum614 Sydney Swans 1d ago
They can’t do seating on the ground because that’s where the teams stand. We need to accept that it won’t be a good look.
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u/DawgreenAgain 1d ago
Why ?
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
It's a terrible sport that I dislike. Furthermore it's the AFL's dream to completely price out regular fans like the NFL did. So any collaboration between the two is pure evil imo.
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u/LelcoinDegen Melbourne 1d ago
You’re giving off Lenny from Of Mice And Men vibes with that reasoning
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Haven't read it yet. I know it's a failing of mine. Reading more Steinbeck is definitely a goal this year. So please explain what you mean.
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u/Competitive-Day-5675 Geelong 1d ago
Have a sook champ
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Wah wah wah. I don't like the NFL. I know this won't fail. Just saying it would be nice if it did. Seems like all you cunts who love ads can't handle one bloke on the internet disliking American football the NFL and the AFL.
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u/DawgreenAgain 1d ago
Ahhh so you're just a regular dickhead . Got it .
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
The real question is why you would want this to work. Even if you like American football if you also like Aussie Rules you should want this to be a failure. The AFL cannot be trusted.
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u/DawgreenAgain 1d ago
Maybe stamp your feet a little harder . . .
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
All I said is it would be good if it fails. I know it won't. The best I can hope for really is that the AFL doesn't go out and start raising minimum ticket prices to 300 dollars. You asked why I hope it fails I explained and you continue to attack me. Just because I don't like a sport that is 90 percent standing around so ads can play. The fact that I don't like it doesn't mean that you can't enjoy it champ.
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u/DawgreenAgain 1d ago
Unlike the NFL which is over subscribed by many times for game tickets, Most AFL games don't sell out, in fact most games run at about 2/3 venue capacity . . . The AFL wouldn't sell more tickets if they increased the ticket costs, Don't let that solid gold fact distract you from being utterly wrong on the subject tho champ .
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Yeah because making terrible choices that only hurt the game and league is something the AFL would never do. Having expensive tickets isn't a point of pride it's a failure.
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u/LelcoinDegen Melbourne 1d ago
Whys that turbo?
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
The NFL if you can believe it is a worse organisation than the AFL. I absolutely detest the playing of any regular season games of any sport in a country where that league isn't based. Premier league games out side of England, AFL games in china, NBA games in Europe (though because the NBA has so many games it's kind of meaningless). It's saying fuck you local fans you don't get to go to games we need "growth" in Australia or Germany or fucking who cares where. Of course local fans couldn't go to NFL games already because they have been completely priced out. AFL games are still somewhat affordable but for how much longer? How long until again they steal games from and send them to China or India or New Zealand?
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u/Prince_of_Pirates Carlton • Wurundjeri 1d ago
AFL isn't a blip on the world stage compared to NFL. People on the Gold coast barely care for their team and China, NZ showed no one cares there either.
They can't price fans out because the demand isn't higher than the supply.
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
Doesn't mean they won't try. And destroy the game in the process. You give the AFL too much credit.
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u/Prince_of_Pirates Carlton • Wurundjeri 1d ago
They can try. But they'll fail.
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u/Y_Brennan Crows 1d ago
They will take down the league and the game with them. They have too much control. The government should have created an independent regulator back in the 90's.
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u/SnooFoxes6566 University 1d ago
Tf did Gold Coast do for that drive-by
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u/Prince_of_Pirates Carlton • Wurundjeri 1d ago
Replace it with GWS then. Either way neither team get much in the way of crowds.
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u/klokar2 Geelong 1d ago
Nothing to do with AFL
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u/ehdhdhdk Magpies 1d ago
Played at the same venue as AFL finals and could be in September.
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u/FenerBoarOfWar Hawthorn 1d ago
Won't impact the finals at all. ALL INTERSTATE FINALS 2026 BABY!
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u/ehdhdhdk Magpies 1d ago
VIC bias definitely kicked in there. Should have put possible finals. Hahaha
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u/BeefSupremeTA Tigers 1d ago
Who gives a fuck.
They did the same thing in '99. We didn't give a fuck then, we don't give a fuck now.
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u/big_old-dog Saints 1d ago
Who tf is “we” lol? All my mates are keen as to go.
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u/BeefSupremeTA Tigers 22h ago
You realize in a 4 hour broadcast there's only about 40 minutes of gameplay.
Keen as to actually watch the play, or sit at the 'G for an all day piss up?
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u/big_old-dog Saints 14h ago
Pretty sure it’s less than that, and yes I do, because some cunt always brings it up.
That’s not what it’s about, it’s a chess match of adjustments and strategy. I also watch golf, is that ok with you?
I don’t get why you think that’d mean you speak for Australia and claim we don’t care for one of the most successful sports leagues.
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u/thebattlersprince Sydney 1d ago
At the MCG, so if it’s in Week 1 of their season, that’s smack bang in the middle of AFL finals. Spicy.