March 31, 2026, 11:55 a.m. PT
In five short months, the Los Angeles Rams will depart for Melbourne, Australia, where they will face the San Francisco 49ers in the season opener. The game will take place on Sept. 11 in Australia, but it’ll air live in the U.S. on Thursday, Sept. 10 at 5:35 p.m. PT, due to the 17-hour time difference between Melbourne and L.A.
Under Sean McVay, the Rams have tried to make cross-country trips as painless as possible by arriving the day before the game, even with a three-hour time difference. Traveling that close to the game is not possible, going from Los Angeles to Australia, but the Rams still plan to arrive closer to kickoff than the 49ers.
While on “Up and Adams” this week, McVay was asked whether the Rams or 49ers will arrive in Melbourne first.
“Definitely the Niners,” he said. “When are they going?”
“Like a week early,” Kay Adams responded.
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“They’ll land before us. I would imagine so,” McVay said. “We’ll see. We haven’t totally finalized–.”
After Adams pointed out that the Rams were in and out of London quickly last season, McVay suggested it worked in their favor – which the scoreboard would confirm, as Los Angeles beat the Jaguars, 35-7.
“We were like SEAL Team 6. We’re in and out before you know what happened,” he joked.
It’s certainly going to take everyone at least a few days to adjust to the time difference, as well as recover from the long flight to Australia. A 17-hour change is nothing like the 3-hour difference between Los Angeles and the East Coast, or even the 8-hour difference between L.A. and London.
No matter what approach the Rams take to travel, they’re going to do what’s best for their players and coaches, with the input from trainers and other staff members. There’s never been another game like this before, so it’s uncharted territory for everyone.
