When the NFL announced last week that the Rams will host the 49ers next season in Melbourne, it was disclosed that the game likely will happen in September or October. John Ourand of Puck has a more specific time for the game.
Week 1.
Ourand made the disclosure in connection with his reporting that the NFL “has been taking meetings with streamers” regarding the rights to broadcast that game, along with four other international games that have reverted to the NFL as part of the recently-completed NFL Network/ESPN merger.
Here’s where it gets interesting. As shared by Michael David Smith, the Melbourne representative at the NFL’s Super Bowl media center said the game will be played on a Sunday afternoon, U.S. time. With a 16-hour fight from L.A. and San Francisco (14.5 hours back) and a 19-hour time difference, playing the game on the Sunday of Week 1 would put both teams in a bind, when it comes to preparing for their Week 2 games.
Unless both teams will be getting a very early bye, it makes far more sense to start Week 1 on the Sunday of Labor Day weekend. That would give both teams ample time to travel home and get ready for Week 2, which for them would be two weeks later.
Currently, only one college game is scheduled for the Sunday of Labor Day weekend: Notre Dame vs. Wisconsin at Lambeau Field. If that’s a night game, Sunday afternoon will be wide open for 49ers-Rams.
It would also become a useful trial balloon for the NFL, in the event that the inevitable 18-game season comes with two byes per team. Under that formula, the NFL would have to shift Week 1 back to Labor Day weekend in order to land the Super Bowl plane on President’s Day weekend.
The league ditched Labor Day weekend in 2001. The concern was that fewer people watch games those days, since they’re out and about for one last dose of summer. Now that everyone is carrying a TV in their pockets, that should no longer be a concern.
What better way to test that out than to stage 49ers-Rams on Sunday, September 6?
That’s our prediction. Feel free to go make the corresponding bet on Kalshi or Polymarket.
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