The NFL’s unending quest to turn into a worldwide sport will proceed in 2026 with the boldest worldwide sport the league has ever floated: A daily season sport in Melbourne, Australia.
There’s no query that one of many world’s nice sporting cities deserves to host an NFL sport — however there are questions surrounding this endeavor which point out that no person spent any time pondering this by way of.
All we all know so far as particulars are that the Rams would be the “dwelling” workforce within the matchup, and that will probably be part of the common season.
It’s going to be a spectacle, to make sure. The sport itself will probably be held on the Melbourne Cricket Floor (MCG), one of many world’s largest and most iconic venues with the flexibility to carry over 100,000 followers. The sport will doubtless be a sellout, and appeal to main consideration inside Australia, which is the plan, however there are mammoth hurdles the league hasn’t defined but.
No. 1: The time distinction
It’s one factor to carry NFL video games in Europe with a six or seven hour time distinction, however Australia is nineteen HOURS forward of Los Angeles, and 16 hours forward of the East Coast. If we assume will probably be an evening sport underneath the lights then a 7 p.m. kickoff native time in Melbourne will probably be midnight on the West Coast, or 3 a.m. ET.
Essentially the most logical can be a mid-afternoon sport regionally, which might end in a Saturday Evening sport within the USA — however TV scheduling is just the smallest factor of all this.
No. 2: Jet lag
It’s typically accepted that it takes roughly at some point, per time zone crossed to totally acclimate to jet lag. That is why groups fly out to England and Germany a number of days prematurely forward of their video games, so gamers are in a position to regulate.
Australia is SEVEN time zones aside from the west coast. As somebody who makes the journey from the USA to Australia on a semi-regular foundation it doesn’t take fairly a full week to really feel regular once more, however simply 4-5 days to get used to the large shift.
This happens each methods, and it’s unclear how the NFL expects gamers to be in peak bodily situation when their sleep patterns are utterly altered like this. It wouldn’t matter in a preseason situation when starters barely play anyway, however when each sport issues this can be a bizarre selection.
No. 3: How are they getting there?
Nearly all of NFL groups fly on Boeing 777 and Boeing 737 widebody airplanes, with customized inside modifications to remodel the inside from having over 200 industrial seats, to 50 pod configurations for gamers to stretch out, with extra seating for help workers.
The problem is that neither the 777, nor the 737 could make the 7,900 mile flight to Melbourne. Even with a logical layover in Hawaii they’ll’t make the second leg of the flight. Previously when exhibition video games have been performed in Australia gamers have taken a number of flights, however that ruins the pregame preparation circulate that groups are used to, which is a matter relating to a daily season sport.
Primarily this can require both groups discovering totally new plane to be customized match for them to make a flight this far, or altering the best way the leadup to the sport is dealt with all collectively.
There’s a logical reply right here the NFL hasn’t explored
As an alternative of attempting to cram an NFL common season sport into the schedule and play it so many hours away in Australia, why not carry again the Professional Bowl and play that? The motivation for gamers can be the league footing the invoice to fly whole households to Australia, making a once-in-a-lifetime expertise for NFL gamers, whereas soccer followers Down Below would get to see stars from a number of groups, not simply these the league has determined to showcase.
There’s no nice method to play a sport so distant, however this ain’t it.
