Next season’s game between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers to be played in Melbourne, Australia will be the NFL’s Thursday night feature in Week 1 and it’s causing the league to totally shift its usual routine. Instead of opening with the Super Bowl winner on Thursday in Week 1, as it usually does, the NFL is going to be shifting the opening game to a rare Wednesday contest according to Joe Flint of the Wall Street Journal.
The teams that will be in that game are unknown and may not include
the Seattle Seahawks. Or if it does, the Seahawks will end up playing on the road because their home field is already scheduled for an MLS game of the Seattle Sounders.
How interesting then that a Rams-49ers game could end up disrupting the Seahawks’ expectations for a Week 1 home game on a Thursday.
The Rams-49ers game in Melbourne is a historic moment for the NFL and clearly it wants to showcase their worldwide appeal by debuting in Australia. The amazing amount of jet lag that both teams will have to deal with also makes sense for why the league wants to get this game out of the way in Week 1 and give L.A. and San Francisco enough time to readjust to the U.S. time zone once they return to the west coast.
We knew the Rams-49ers in Melbourne would be an interesting moment for the franchises and the league but with this reported shift to the Week 1 schedule, it’s going to be an even bigger night.
