A sellout crowd of 100,000 is expected to pack the cavernous four-tier seating bowl of the iconic Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) in Australia for the season opener between the west coast rivals.
The match will almost certainly set a top-ten all-time record for a regular season NFL attendance, with only six matches - three at the Los Angeles Memorial Coliseum in the late 1950s - breaking through for a six-figure crowd.
Melbourne's NFL debut is set to kick off a nine-game International Series that heads to Rio De Janeiro, London, Paris, Madrid, Munich and finally Mexico City in the second half of November.
The two franchises have taken vastly different logistical approaches to their preparation for this game, with the San Francisco 49ers spending an entire week in Melbourne to acclimatise to conditions, whilst the Rams landed in Melbourne little more than 24 hours before kick-off, maintaining a Pacific Time body clock and preparing for what is a Thursday night match back in the States.
With the game already declared an immense success prior to kick-off, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell had no hesitation to declare that the league would be back in Australia next year.
"We're going to be back here. It's not a one and done for us," Goodell told the ESPN pre-game broadcast.
"We're investing in this community, whether it's through bringing flag football to every school in Australia that wants to play it.
"One of the remarkable things about this game, and I know our fans in the States don't understand this, is that we're here on a Friday morning at 10:30am and 100,000 people are going to be in this stadium watching.
"That's remarkable and it shows you how passionate they (Australians) are."
Goodell praised both franchises for buying into the historic game, assuring that the Rams' late arrival in Melbourne was by no means a statement of disrespect or disinterest.
"It was in part their initiative," Goodell said of the Rams and the 49ers.
"Their intent was to market here. We have a global markets program and the Rams were one of the first to put their flag down here.
"These two teams are popular here, and I think the location helps too, having two west coast teams. And these are two great franchises with a rivalry that certainly doesn't hurt."
Aaron Murphy has been with Flashscore since 2018 and, as the founding editor of the Australian newsdesk, has reported on-site at several major events in Melbourne including the Australian Open, State of Origin, A-League, NBL and international cricket. You can read his pieces here and contact him on X or LinkedIn.
