The Rams may have moved their annual matchup with the 49ers nearly 8,000 miles from SoFi Stadium, but they apparently didn’t leave San Francisco’s fans behind.
Los Angeles will serve as the designated home team when the NFC West rivals meet Sept. 10 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground in the NFL’s first regular-season game in Australia.
Yet the crowd could feel considerably less like a Rams home game.
According to figures supplied by the NFL to The Athletic, the 49ers are the league’s most popular team in Australia, while the Rams rank seventh. San Francisco has built that following despite not holding official Australian marketing rights, something the Rams have had since 2021.
NFL Australia and New Zealand general manager Charlotte Offord attributed much of San Francisco’s popularity to the franchise’s dominance during the 1980s, when the league was beginning to attract Australian viewers.
“I think that comes from being one of the top teams in the ’80s, when a lot of people here consumed the NFL,” Offord told The Athletic. “And a lot of people continued to follow those top teams.”
The 49ers are leaning into that advantage, announcing a week of Melbourne events designed to “paint Melbourne red,” while thousands of their famously well-traveled fans are expected to make the trip.
That could feel familiar to the Rams, who have repeatedly watched 49ers supporters flood SoFi Stadium during the rivalry.
But Australia also gives Los Angeles something it rarely gets in those games: a chance to win over an audience that has not already picked a side.
The Rams arrive with the kind of roster capable of making a strong first impression. Matthew Stafford leads an offense coming off a 12-win season, while a defense featuring Myles Garrett, Aaron Donald and Trent McDuffie has helped turn Los Angeles into one of the NFL’s most intimidating teams on paper.
For a growing Australian audience experiencing its first regular-season NFL game in person, that matters. The 49ers may enter Melbourne with the larger established following, but the Rams have an opportunity to convert some of the spectators who are still choosing an NFL allegiance.
The 100,000-seat MCG may start with plenty of red.
A convincing Rams performance could ensure not everyone leaves wearing it.
