NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell says the league was compelled to play a game in Australia because of the iconic nature of the MCG and Melbourne’s reputation as the world’s sporting capital.
But the boss of the NFL has warned rival Australian states will come hard to poach future games from Victoria despite a four-year contract to play at least two games at the MCG.
In an exclusive interview with the Herald Sun ahead of the historic MCG clash on Friday between the LA Rams and San Francisco 49ers, Goodell said the upcoming game was already a success.
The 10.35am clash sold out in hours and will be beamed into homes in nearly 200 countries by Netflix as the event promotes Melbourne as a tourist destination.
Goodell said he would hold talks with the NFL’s partners in Melbourne across the week about whether the league would play a game in 2027.
The ‘two-plus one’ deal with Visit Victoria – estimated at around $10m-$15 million a game – guarantees two games in four seasons from 2026-2029 and potentially a third contest.
Goodell said the early metrics were positive in pointing to a 2027 game at the MCG.
Recent NFL Super Bowl winners in the Philadelphia Eagles (2025) and Seattle Seahawks (2026) are both contenders to play in that clash.
They are two of the four NFL teams, along with the Rams and Las Vegas Raiders, with Australia as one of their official global markets. They also boast Australian stars in Jordan Mailata (Philadelphia) and Michael Dickson (Seattle).
As he prepares to fly to Melbourne on Monday, Goodell admitted the massive growth of NFL in recent years had forced the league to fast-forward plans for an Australian game.
“Our ambition is to be a global sport and global business and I don’t think I have ever seen a market that is more interested in sports than Australia. You have a great love of sports and I think we have close to nine million fans in Australia. And playing in the MCG is an iconic stadium, which is something that we care very deeply about,” he said.
“I think the stadium was clearly a major factor for us. I think also Melbourne has created a reputation as an incredible sporting city. Not just in Australia but I think on a global basis. So I think they were both huge factors for us.”
Goodell will clearly drive a hard bargain on any further contract past 2029, telling this masthead he was aware of the Sydney-Melbourne rivalry.
“Well, there are a lot of cities in Australia that would like to compete for that,” he said. “One of the things I have learned from my two trips to Australia is there is a healthy competition going on from region to region in Australia. And, you know, as we’re looking towards the Olympics in 2032, we know that Brisbane will be hosting those.
“We hope to have Flag Football as an (Olympic) sport in 2032. Those are all going to be big factors for us and going to be part of the growth of the sport in us in Australia but also as a step into Asia which is something that certainly we’re looking towards.”
