What the Biggest Challenge for the 49ers Will be Playing in Australia

Playing the Rams in Australia presents numerous challenges, but this one is the biggest for the 49ers.

Aug 9, 2025; Santa Clara, California, USA; San Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan watches from the sidelines in the first quarter against the Denver Broncos at Levi's Stadium. Mandatory Credit: David Gonzales-Imagn Images | David Gonzales-Imagn Images

It’s been 13 years since the San Francisco 49ers played overseas. That all changes in the 2026 season when they fly to Melbourne, Australia.

The game will occur in Week 1 against the Los Angeles Rams. It's head-scratching that the NFL would place a divisional game overseas. Nevertheless, both teams are set to play the first NFL game ever in Australia.

“I’m looking forward to it. I’ve never been. I’m excited for the 16‑hour flight from San Francisco,” said George Kittle on The Pat McAfee Show. "It’s going to be great. Me and Christian McCaffrey will be sitting right next to each other for the whole flight, and I’m probably going to annoy him the entire time.”

Playing an international game always provides its own unique challenges. To gain better insight into the situation, I asked former NFL Head Coach Ron Rivera what the biggest challenge for the 49ers will be to play in Australia.

Feb 6, 2025; New Orleans, LA, USA; Ron Rivera on the red carpet during Super Bowl LIX NFL Honors at Saenger Theatre. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

“The biggest thing more than anything else is the adaptation to the time and the travel,” Rivera said. “That’s probably the biggest thing. The travel’s rough, but you’ve got to somehow be acclimated very quickly. I can see them trying to do a few studies trying to understand what it’s gonna take to fly out there and how to prepare for it.

“When I was with the San Diego Chargers, one of the things we did is we flew halfway there. We asked that we be allowed to play Buffalo that year, and then from Buffalo, we flew immediately to London to play in one of those international games.”

Unfortunately, there’s no median point for the 49ers when they fly to Australia. The closest the 49ers can get to that is Hawaii, but that only reduces the 19-hour time difference by three hours.

The only way the 49ers can overcome that brutal flight and time zone change is by getting to Melbourne as early as possible. But it also can’t be so easily that it ruins their body clock when they get back. 

This is going to be extremely rough for the 49ers and the Rams to work with. The only bright side is that it’s for Week 1. Both teams will need to devise a way to overcome these conditions. 

I'm sure internally, no one is happy about this game no matter what they say.

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