The ‘extraordinary’ changes NFL have made to the Melbourne Cricket Ground for Rams – 49ers game

The long wait for the new NFL season is almost up, with the season-opener for the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers taking place in Melbourne, Australia.

It will be the first-ever regular season NFL game ever to be held in Australia, with the Melbourne Cricket Ground providing the perfect venue for such an occasion.

However, there have been some significant changes made to the famous stadium ahead of the Thursday Night Football game.

The Tottenham Hotspur Stadium in London was designed with hosting NFL games in mind, but the MCG was certainly not built to host athletes of this size.

Ahead of the game on Thursday night [Friday morning local time], details of the adjustments have now been shared.

Melbourne Cricket Ground undergoes makeover ahead of NFL game

When the NFL heads to London, the teams occupy especially built locker rooms as the two soccer dressing rooms would not be able to fit NFL players and their equipment.

This is an issue that the Melbourne Cricket Ground has experienced, with the existing locker rooms being ripped out and replaced.

Local reporter Sam Edmund has reported from the MCG to share some of the significant changes to take place ahead of the game between the Rams and Niners.

“An extraordinary makeover of the MCG for Friday’s NFL showpiece,” he said on X.

The ‘extraordinary’ changes NFL have made

“Among many changes, underground carpark has become an office block, AFL lockers ripped out & replaced with wider NFL versions in change rooms, furniture in function rooms taken out & replaced and up to 8000sqm of turf to be replaced post-game given the depth of line marking paint.”

It is quite the task to prepare a stadium for an NFL game, with Thursday’s game at the MCG showing just how much work goes in behind the scenes.

The Niners have already settled in Australia, whilst the Rams are travelling to Melbourne on Tuesday.

Sean McVay and the Rams will come under serious scrutiny or be lauded for their plan, depending on which way the result goes.

One thing that cannot be questioned is the efforts going into making the NFL’s first regular season game in Australia a total success.

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