The 49ers might get their 2026 season opener in the prime-time Thursday Night Football slot. But the game will be in Melbourne, Australia, which is about a 16-hour flight each way, and Niners players are none too thrilled.
NFL fans (and especially players) generally hate Thursday Night Football. That is, with the exception of the Week 1 opening night game, because we’ve been jonesing for that shit all off-season and we’ll take it any way we can get it. And that Week 1 Thursday Night Football game may be shaping up to be 49ers-Rams, as KRON4 reports that the 49ers and Rams will play an international game in Melbourne, Australia.
Time and date is TBA. It seems because of the 16-hour flight to Melbourne, the best way this works is if it’s the season-opener on the Thursday of Week 1. https://t.co/xiTHCy6L1H
— Matt Maiocco (@MaioccoNBCS) February 5, 2026
Not long after that announcement dropped Thursday, NBC Sports Bay Area’s Matt Maiocco confirmed that game would be Week 1, and might even be the Week 1 Thursday Night Football game. “Time and date is TBA,” Maiocco tweeted. “It seems because of the 16-hour flight to Melbourne, the best way this works is if it’s the season-opener on the Thursday of Week 1."
Fair enough, but it also might be the special Friday night Week 1 game. Remember, this past season, the Chiefs and Chargers played a Friday night Week 1 opener in Sao Paolo, Brazil. So the Rams and Niners playing on Friday night in Week 1 in Australia would make sense too.
But it doesn't make sense to some 49ers players, who are not at all pleased with the prospect of a 16-hour flight (each way) to Australia.
“That’s not fair. Then the NFL, I feel, is doing us a disservice,” 49ers fullback Kyle Juszczyk told the Bay Area News Group. “Because if we’re going to talk about health and safety, to do two international games like that is almost like playing three games in 13 days.”
Running back Christian McCaffrey was slightly more diplomatic.
“Australia is pretty far,” McCaffrey told the News Group. “I’d love to see how the schedule would work. Transparently, that might be a little too far.”
It gets divvied up. 49ers have marketing rights in Mexico City.
— Tim Kawakami (@timkawakami) February 5, 2026
Nobody "gets" to be the home team. You lose a home game in your own stadium when you "host" an international game.
These are just preferred sites IF the team is going to lose a home game.
It doesn't really matter. https://t.co/ObfG2PLQKj
You may have noticed that Juszczyk mentioned “two international games.” That’s because it’s been long-rumored that the Niners will play another international game in Mexico City in the 2026 season, and team CEO Jed York basically confirmed as much this week in a Super Bowl press conference.
"We will most likely give up a home game this season to play abroad, and Mexico is always No. 1 on my list,” York told reporter Emilio León of Imagen Sports, per the News Group.
To clarify, the 49ers would give up a home game in order to be the “home team” in a Mexico game. The Rams are giving up a home game in order to be the “home team” in the Melbourne, Australia game. And that’s probably fine by the Rams, as so many Niners fans pack their home stadium for Rams-49ers games in LA that people routinely refer to the Rams’ SoFi Stadium as “Levi’s South.”
Related: 49ers Get Glorious 23-19 Playoff Win In Nailbiter Over Philadelphia Eagles [SFist]
Image: SANTA CLARA, CALIFORNIA - NOVEMBER 09: A San Francisco 49ers fan reacts during the third quarter against the Los Angeles Rams at Levi's Stadium on November 09, 2025 in Santa Clara, California. (Photo by Thearon W. Henderson/Getty Images)
