FOR JUST ABOUT as long as Melbourne has been a city, its residents have proudly hailed it the sporting capital of the world. That title has always been unofficial, of course. A somewhat tongue-in-cheek proclamation that has often raised eyebrows and brought out the odd smirk from those residing north of the 'Barassi Line', the imaginary border separating Aussie Rules and rugby league heartlands. Still, it's a claim that has never felt that egregious.
Melbourne is the only city on the planet that hosts both a tennis Grand Slam and a Formula One world championship race. They're not just any old events, either. Last month, the Australian Open became the highest-attended Grand Slam in tennis history, while the Australian Grand Prix, at the picturesque palm tree-lined Albert Park lake, has once again returned to the highly anticipated season-opening slot in mid-March.
With the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse, the city also boasts one of the world's oldest and most storied horse races, as well as the globe's highest-attended annual cricket match, the Boxing Day Test, at the MCG. Melbourne has also been both an Olympic Games and Commonwealth Games host city, the scene of countless combat sport title fights, and welcomed some of world football's most prestigious and celebrated clubs to the city.
But despite its impressive sporting pedigree and near unrivalled major events résumé, Melbourne, and Australia in general, has always struggled to carve out any meaningful relationship with American sports. Until now.
Thursday's blockbuster news the National Football League (NFL) will be bringing a regular season game to the MCG as part of a multi-year commitment from spring 2026 coupled with Friday's shock announcement the National Basketball Association (NBA) will also be venturing to Melbourne for a series of exhibition games later this year doesn't just rubber-stamp locals' long-standing belief Melbourne is the world's sporting mecca, it proves the city wants the rest of the world to recognise it, too.
Over the past several years, Victoria has made a concerted effort to pivot its approach to major sporting events. It has opted away from inking deals with the niche and up-and-coming, such as combat sports and football, as well as events that fail to move the broadcast rights and public interest needle. That strategic shift became even more evident 18 months ago when the state sensationally withdrew from hosting the 2026 Commonwealth Games, citing "unexpected cost increases".
Instead, Victoria has begun focusing on the already established, major market, international events that carry unmatched widespread appeal. At the end of 2022, a further two years were added to Melbourne's existing deal with Formula One, a sport that's among the fastest growing and most popular in the world today. Last year, the Victorian government and Tennis Australia confirmed Melbourne Park would continue to host the Australian Open until at least 2046. These latest landmark agreements with America's two most popular sporting leagues, particularly the NFL, is the state further planting its flag in the ultra splashy events that lead to maximum eyeballs and unrivalled exposure.
"We can't wait to add the NFL game to that calendar. It's great to keep Melbourne on the international sporting map," said Victorian premier Jacinta Allan. "When you come to Melbourne for the NFL game, you'll get to witness a great major sporting event at one of the best venues in the world."
The magnitude of the NFL, the world's most profitable sporting league, being taken to Melbourne cannot in any way be understated. Sure, the league has been here once before, back in 1999 for an uncelebrated pre-season hitout. And yes, the NFL has since built an impressive international city rotation of London, Mexico City, Munich, and São Paulo, but Melbourne is a vastly different proposition. Bringing regular season games, games that actually matter, to Australia, has always been something of a logistical minefield, forever preventing this expansive operation from venturing Down Under.
We're talking 53-man rosters, dozens of coaching staff, and countless training and medical employees. There's team media, dieticians, and chefs. Then multiply that by two teams and add the hefty international media contingent, which includes multiple broadcast crews. The minimum 14-hour trip to and from Melbourne means the two sides playing in Australia would then require a bye either in the week before or week after, causing further headaches with the NFL's complex schedule.
And then there's the time and time zone conundrum. Ideally, and much like how São Paulo hosted the second game of the 2024-25 campaign, these games in Melbourne would be played at the beginning of the season in early September. But that seems to be an impossibility, given at that point the AFL would be set to commence its finals series. You cannot play these games at night, as the bulk of the United States audience would be asleep, meaning a midday start, likely on a Sunday to maximize ticket sales and international viewership, really is the only feasible option. The NBA will face similar challenges when it makes the trek Down Under later in the year ahead of its 2025-26 season. Making these type of events work in Australia is a case of threading the finest of needles.
"Expanding our global footprint is a key pillar of our league-wide strategy and international games are one of the most impactful elements for that strategy," said NFL Executive Vice President Peter O'Reilly at the announcement press conference. "[These] games really serve as a catalyst, a catalyst for growing the game at every level and year round. We continue to accelerate our path to becoming a true global sport property."
There will be those who downplay the seismic nature of Melbourne's latest sporting coup, arguing this isn't the first time one of the United States' four major sporting leagues has landed in Australia. And while that is true, MLB did launch its 2014 season in Sydney, that was baseball, and this is football and basketball. Baseball isn't in the same stratosphere from a commercial perspective and is considerably lower down the pecking order in the Australian sporting psyche. After all, it's Super Bowl Monday, not the World Series, that Sydney Morning Herald columnist Andrew Webster hailed as 'Australia's new Melbourne Cup' in 2023. It's also the NBA and its unmistakable culture that has entrenched itself into everyday Melbourne life.
Last year, MLB's average domestic viewership was 375,000 per game. The same year, the average NFL game had 17.5 million Americans tuning in, that number growing considerably for standalone games, which those played in Melbourne would almost certainly have to be. The overwhelming popularity of the football product isn't the only reason for the gulf in viewership figures, its scarcity is also a major factor. Each NFL team plays just 17 games in a regular season. MLB? 162. One MLB game is 0.62% of its season. A single NFL game is a whopping 5.88%. In short, there's less of the pie to go around, and Melbourne has managed to secure a sizable slice of arguably the world's most sought after sporting pie. The addition of NBA exhibition games is the cherry on top.
"Over the last two years since we set up office here in Australia we've really heavily invested into this market and it's become a priority market for us," said Charlotte Orford, NFL General Manager for Australia and New Zealand. "We've seen huge growth in our fandom for NFL and American football in this market. More people are tuning in to regular season games, more people are watching the Super Bowl, more people are engaging with us on social media, more kids are playing flag football at the grassroots level. It really does feel like the time for us to be investing in this market and putting a regular season game here."