It was a big ask for the San Francisco 49ers to travel to Melbourne, Australia, for their 2026 season opener. Well, the NFL didn't really ask. The 49ers had no choice.
To make matters worse, they will face the designated "home team," the Los Angeles Rams, who enter the season as the current Super Bowl LXI favorites.
The matchup takes a significant regular-season advantage away from the 49ers. They won't have the privilege of making their annual trip to SoFi Stadium during the regular season, where The Faithful typically blankets the seats in a sea of red, essentially turning it into a bonus home game for the Bay Area squad.
Of course, The Faithful are expected to be out in full force at the Melbourne Cricket Ground when the two teams clash this week.
The 49ers arrived in Melbourne last week to acclimate to the time change, which took several days for some players. The Rams, meanwhile, are scheduled to arrive about 29 hours before kickoff.
After the game, the 49ers will have to re-acclimate to the Pacific time zone when they return home. Then, the team will resume its normal game-week preparations for its Week 2 matchup against the Miami Dolphins at Levi's Stadium.
Head coach Kyle Shanahan revealed Wednesday afternoon (Tuesday night in the United States) that, after learning the 49ers would open the season by playing the first NFL regular-season game in Australia, the team asked the league if it could accommodate a small scheduling request.
The 49ers asked whether their Week 2 matchup could be scheduled as a Monday night contest, giving the team additional time to recover from the lengthy trip and adjust back to the Pacific time zone.
"Yeah, we asked very nicely. Didn't work," Shanahan said.
It certainly worked out for the Rams, though.
Los Angeles was given the Monday night slot in Week 2 and will face the New York Giants on September 21.
For the 49ers, there will be no extra day of recovery. After traveling halfway around the world for the season opener, they'll have to reset and begin preparing for their first home game of the 2026 season.
Still, it helps that the Australia game is on a Thursday in Week 1.
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