MCG game 2026

[PowerfulPies2023]

I'm more like William Foster in Falling Down

That guys awesome. That whami burger scene was cool. The burgers looked great on the signs. I'd be pissed too if I saw my burger like that. I couldn't blame you for going guns blazing.

 

[exe ex machina]

That guys awesome. That whami burger scene was cool. The burgers looked great on the signs. I'd be pissed too if I saw my burger like that. I couldn't blame you for going guns blazing.

I'll snap one day, and take it out on the hallowed MCG turf.

 

[AJ_2000]

 

[AJ_2000]

Sunday afternoon US time... Monday morning here which fixes any football challenges (Fri and Sat night available for finals).

But 10am is 5pm on the West Coast or 8pm on the East Coast. So it would be the Sunday night game.

But both teams are going to end up on a short week with the travel back - not ideal at all

 

[deck]

Sunday afternoon US time... Monday morning here which fixes any football challenges (Fri and Sat night available for finals).

But 10am is 5pm on the West Coast or 8pm on the East Coast. So it would be the Sunday night game.

But both teams are going to end up on a short week with the travel back - not ideal at all

The article I read suggested it will be played the Sunday before week 1 allowing for the longer break. But it also stated it wouldn't be a Sunday night and it would be the 4pm EST time slot. That would make it a 6am kick off here. So have to take the whole thing with a grain of salt.

 

[AJ_2000]

The article I read suggested it will be played the Sunday before week 1 allowing for the longer break. But it also stated it wouldn't be a Sunday night and it would be the 4pm EST time slot. That would make it a 6am kick off here. So have to take the whole thing with a grain of salt.

6am

It would start in the dark and be a sunrise game. The reverse of an AFL twilight game

 

[revo333]

Super Bowl next season is on the 14th so maybe the extra week is to accommodate playing this game on a stand alone weekend then the rest of the league start the season the weekend after.

Or everyone plays on the week 1 weekend and the 49ers and Rams have their bye week 2.

 

[deck]

6am

It would start in the dark and be a sunrise game. The reverse of an AFL twilight game

As I said it seemed more hypothetical than fact from John Ourand on how they make it work for both teams and the travel plus time between next game. Not sure he really had his timezones sorted when he suggested the Sunday arvo slot.

Also the same article did says it was 1 of 4 international games that is still to be sold. So they do have the flexibility to play the game whenever they want.

 

[aussiedude]

Super Bowl next season is on the 14th so maybe the extra week is to accommodate playing this game on a stand alone weekend then the rest of the league start the season the weekend after.

Or everyone plays on the week 1 weekend and the 49ers and Rams have their bye week 2.

Its still 23 weeks after week 1. just week 1 Sunday isnt till September 13th.

18 weeks of games + 5 weeks of playoffs. Its just Conference Championship Sunday will be Jan 31 next season. It feels longer but still the same amount of weeks

If they played it on Labor Day weekend [the week before week 1] it would wipe out the players week off betwen preseason and week 1 even if they get a week 1 "bye" and cause issues with final roster builds given they dont get set till about September 3/4 and the labor day weekend game would be September 6/7/8. and if its the 7th its up against the full slate of College week 1 games and having an in market TV deal could be hard with ABC, FOX having full slates and CBS/NBC having a couple of games scheduled unless its played the Monday here. Also September 6th is likely ruled out for being the Saturday in AFL finals week 1.

Not sure a Monday afternoon is any better then a Friday afternoon a few days later.

 

[ams4crows]

Bit of conflicting information at the moment

 

[aussiedude]

Bit of conflicting information at the moment

Sounds like they are still trying to sell it to a streamer and different streamers want different days

 

[peetoo]

Details of NFL Overseas Travel:

• Aircraft & Seating: Teams typically charter large, wide-body planes configured for comfort, with business class seats often reserved for players to sleep. While some individual owners own jets, the Patriots are one of the few teams with their own team-dedicated planes.
• Equipment Transport: Several tons of gear—helmets, pads, jerseys, medical supplies, and media equipment—are packed into specialized trunks. This cargo is often sent in advance or loaded onto the team plane, requiring detailed inventory management.
• Logistics & Personnel: Teams send advance staff to scout hotels, secure practice facilities, and ensure the stadium meets NFL standards.
• Timing: Teams usually travel a few days before the game to manage the physical toll of long-distance, 10-hour+ flights and adjust to time differences.
• Costs: Traveling abroad is significantly more expensive than domestic travel, with costs potentially running hundreds of thousands of dollars more due to the logistical complexities, often making these trips cost close to $1 million or more.

 

[aussiedude]

So the league tried to find loopholes in the SBA. which at my guess would of been having the game not even on local TV in LA/SF markets and having it like the Brazil game and free on youtube globally

 

[peetoo]

So in AFL finals terms the week after the wildcard week

 

[aussiedude]

So in AFL finals terms the week after the wildcard week

Yeah should be traditional week 1. Elimination/Qualifying finals

 

[The Mailman Delivers]

All that empty space between the field and the fence will be so ugly and make us all look dumb.

Do we know if the organisers are planning to set up temporary seats on the ground to help fill the space?

Initially I thought that was a stupid idea as the patrons in those seats wouldn't have any elevation to the playing field and thus wouldn't be able to see anything (think basketball at Marvel.)

But what if those seats were sold cheap say under $100 each, under a 'restricted viewing ground atmosphere' (or some other fancy name) seating category. At least the punters buying them would know what they're in for.

While their view would be sh1t, they would still get a real close look at the players, warm ups and be up close to all the sideline goings on, cheerleaders etc. You could have guys roaming the isles giving away free food & merchandise to help make up for it. Would folks here pay for something like that if they couldn't get a seat in the stands?

Stadiums like West Ham's in the EPL or Marvel with the seats in come up alright on TV, despite their sh!tness in reality. This would be a similar deal. The aerial shots will be yuck, but the regular coverage will be so much better with visible fans in the background.

Don't get me wrong. 25 odd rows of temporary seating on either side of the field is still sh1t, but surely it's better than 40m of empty space.

 

[TheGreatBarryB]

All that empty space between the field and the fence will be so ugly and make us all look dumb.

Do we know if the organisers are planning to set up temporary seats on the ground to help fill the space?

Initially I thought that was a stupid idea as the patrons in those seats wouldn't have any elevation to the playing field and thus wouldn't be able to see anything (think basketball at Marvel.)

But what if those seats were sold cheap say under $100 each, under a 'restricted viewing ground atmosphere' (or some other fancy name) seating category. At least the punters buying them would know what they're in for.

While their view would be sh1t, they would still get a real close look at the players, warm ups and be up close to all the sideline goings on, cheerleaders etc. You could have guys roaming the isles giving away free food & merchandise to help make up for it. Would folks here pay for something like that if they couldn't get a seat in the stands?

Stadiums like West Ham's in the EPL or Marvel with the seats in come up alright on TV, despite their sh!tness in reality. This would be a similar deal. The aerial shots will be yuck, but the regular coverage will be so much better with visible fans in the background.

Don't get me wrong. 25 odd rows of temporary seating on either side of the field is still sh1t, but surely it's better than 40m of empty space.

No one seemed to give a shit when 95,000 watched Liverpool there. Or NRL SOO. Both had plenty of space on the side

 

[exe ex machina]

I am sure Melbournians will attend, and won't care about the field size. But I can see them complaining about a 6 AM start (amenities etc). But if there's any raised eyebrows, it'd be Americans seeing their game on a foreign sized massive oval, Twitter talk about it.

Then again Croke Park in Ireland is a massive rectangle, as Garlic fields are much bigger than Soccer/Rugby/Gridiron fields, and were there any Americans complaining about the look of that game on Twitter?

 

[The Mailman Delivers]

I am sure Melbournians will attend, and won't care about the field size. But I can see them complaining about a 6 AM start (amenities etc). But if there's any raised eyebrows, it'd be Americans seeing their game on a foreign sized massive oval, Twitter talk about it.

Then again Croke Park in Ireland is a massive rectangle, as Garlic fields are much bigger than Soccer/Rugby/Gridiron fields, and were there any Americans complaining about the look of that game on Twitter?

I am sure Melbournians will turn up too. For the first game anyway. I sure as hell wish they wouldn't though. The only way to stop these organisers getting away with delivering their sh1tty inferior product is to not consume it as I won't be - (I live in Melbourne and don't mind a bit of NFL)

I think a lot of locals are going to be surprised at just how narrow an NFL field is - much thinner than a League, Union or Soccer field.

While yes Croke Park is a bit longer than the average rectangular stadium, at 88m wide, I think that's well within the range of what most fans would consider acceptable, with only about 10m extra space to what they're used to.

The G is on a different scale. When you start approaching the point where the gap between the playing field and the fence is the same width as the playing field itself, that for me is the tipping point that screams unsuitability.

The viewing from the bottom level seats is poor enough for the other rectangular codes, it will be infinately worse for the American game which has a forest of humanity stood on either sideline. I think the bottom level seating at the G accounts for about 35-40k of the venue's capacity. If any of that is sold as premium category seating it's bordering on criminal.

I feel truly sorry for any Americans who are going to part with their hard earned to fly all the way out here then pay top dollar for the second rate experience the G is going to dish up. I hope the competing clubs fans at least get seats in the middle tiers.

I think Melbournians are just too easily accepting of inferior experiences when it comes to the rectangular sports at the G. I don't care what anyone says. We are a city that simply can't do full justice to big time rectangular sporting events.

 

[kaiserchief13]

Wednesday night in US, so around 10.30am Thursday aest. Pretty early start but it will be fine as a one off. Only issue is a working day. How many people going to take the day off? Maybe vic should get a public holiday that day

 

[exe ex machina]

I am sure Melbournians will turn up too. For the first game anyway. I sure as hell wish they wouldn't though. The only way to stop these organisers getting away with delivering their sh1tty inferior product is to not consume it as I won't be - (I live in Melbourne and don't mind a bit of NFL)

I think a lot of locals are going to be surprised at just how narrow an NFL field is - much thinner than a League, Union or Soccer field.

While yes Croke Park is a bit longer than the average rectangular stadium, at 88m wide, I think that's well within the range of what most fans would consider acceptable, with only about 10m extra space to what they're used to.

The G is on a different scale. When you start approaching the point where the gap between the playing field and the fence is the same width as the playing field itself, that for me is the tipping point that screams unsuitability.

The viewing from the bottom level seats is poor enough for the other rectangular codes, it will be infinately worse for the American game which has a forest of humanity stood on either sideline. I think the bottom level seating at the G accounts for about 35-40k of the venue's capacity. If any of that is sold as premium category seating it's bordering on criminal.

I feel truly sorry for any Americans who are going to part with their hard earned to fly all the way out here then pay top dollar for the second rate experience the G is going to dish up. I hope the competing clubs fans at least get seats in the middle tiers.

I think Melbournians are just too easily accepting of inferior experiences when it comes to the rectangular sports at the G. I don't care what anyone says. We are a city that simply can't do full justice to big time rectangular sporting events.

If the lower tier seating (30-40k) is sparse due to local awareness that it won't be good for viewing, and so the end result is around 60-70k, it'll emphasize how Accor should've been the venue as it would've got the same or higher attendance.

Larger issue is that the Vic gov should immediately help fund a new 70k rectangular stadium or to upgrade an existing one.

 

[The Mailman Delivers]

If the lower tier seating (30-40k) is sparse due to local awareness that it won't be good for viewing, and so the end result is around 60-70k, it'll emphasize how Accor should've been the venue as it would've got the same or higher attendance.

Larger issue is that the Vic gov should immediately help fund a new 70k rectangular stadium or to upgrade an existing one.

Absolutely zero chance of a 70k rectangular stadium being built in Melbourne. The economics don't come close to stacking up.

Even Sydney and Brisbane don't have one (Accor is still multi purpose) Hell, even Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle, Juventus, PSG, Celtic, Rangers to name just a few don't have one.

When AAMI Park was built, Melbourne Victory had to lobby hard to get the original planned capacity up from low 20s to 30k. Today that place is rarely filled.

AFL is king in Melbourne. No new stadium of that capacity will ever be built without the involvenent of the AFL.

 

[exe ex machina]

AFL needs to evolve to a rectangular field then, like Gaelic and all the other football codes.

 

[peetoo]

Absolutely zero chance of a 70k rectangular stadium being built in Melbourne. The economics don't come close to stacking up.

Even Sydney and Brisbane don't have one (Accor is still multi purpose) Hell, even Liverpool, Arsenal, Chelsea, Man City, Newcastle, Juventus, PSG, Celtic, Rangers to name just a few don't have one.

When AAMI Park was built, Melbourne Victory had to lobby hard to get the original planned capacity up from low 20s to 30k. Today that place is rarely filled.

AFL is king in Melbourne. No new stadium of that capacity will ever be built without the involvenent of the AFL.

The investors in docklands stadium got the Kennett govt to place severe limits on what could be done at other stadiums in Melbourne. I think that led to the. 20k limit

 

[Gavin Excell]

Plenty of people will be up for a 10am weekday start tomorrow in pubs and BBQs at home all across Australia.

As they were for Superbowl