One prominent Bay Area team has a good idea about the challenges facing the 49ers and Los Angeles Rams leading into and out of their 2026 NFL regular-season opener.<\/p>\n
The Saint Mary\u2019s men\u2019s basketball team, coming off their fifth consecutive NCAA Tournament appearance, recently returned from a five-game tour of Australia under first-year head coach Mickey McConnell.<\/p>\n
The NFL announced in February the 49ers and Rams would square off in a Week 1 game in Melbourne, Australia<\/a>. The game will be televised live to the West Coast on Thursday, Sept. 10, at 5:35 p.m. PT.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen I first heard they were playing, I thought that was an insane decision to play over there,\u201d McConnell said with a laugh.<\/p>\n The Gaels have been closely associated with Australia over the past two decades. The tiny Moraga college stacked its roster with Australian imports under former coach Randy Bennett. Patty Mills, Matthew Dellavedova and Jock Landale were recruited from Down Under and were collegiate stars before carving out successful careers in the NBA.<\/p>\n Just three weeks ago, Saint Mary\u2019s embarked on a tour<\/a> that included four games against teams from Australia\u2019s top professional league. The Gaels spent three days in Melbourne along the way.<\/p>\n One of the fascinating elements of the first NFL regular-season game in Australia is how the 49ers and Rams are taking completely different approaches with their itineraries.<\/p>\n The 49ers are leaving from the Bay Area on Wednesday, Sept. 2. With the 17-hour time difference, the 49ers will land in Melbourne on Friday, Sept. 4. The game will kick off at Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday, Sept. 11, at 11:35 a.m.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, the Rams plan to arrive<\/a> in Melbourne the day before the game.<\/p>\n Nigel Warren, Australia\u2019s Commercial Attache to the United States, has lived long periods of time in Melbourne and in the Bay Area.<\/p>\n He has little doubt which organization has the best plan leading into the Week 1 game.<\/p>\n \u201cI’m not even sure the Rams are going to know what part of the planet they’re on,\u201d Warren told NBC Sports Bay Area. \u201cI\u2019ve done that trip so many times. The first 24, 48, even 72 hours, you’re really struggling with the jet lag. So I’m really surprised to hear that. And, absolutely, the 49ers are doing this the right way.\u201d<\/p>\n NBC Sports Bay Area asked McConnell to share his opinions about the differing philosophies based on his experiences of traveling to Australia to play or coach basketball.<\/p>\n \u201cThe first day is so long,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cIf you don’t get good sleep on the plane, you’re just struggling to stay up on day one.\u201d<\/p>\n Saint Mary\u2019s itinerary consisted of travel from the Bay Area on Sunday, Aug. 9, with an arrival in Sydney early Tuesday, Aug. 11. The Gaels had a light shoot-around on the day of their arrival, a full practice the next day, then played a game against the Illawarra Hawks on Thursday, Aug. 13.<\/p>\n \u201cI thought we had good pop,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cWe had good energy for the first 20 minutes. And then you could see, we started to taper off a little bit and ran out of gas.<\/p>\n \u201cI think the time difference, flight, all that stuff, played a huge factor.\u201d<\/p>\n McConnell said his team\u2019s schedule and accommodations, in reality, probably have little in common with how the 49ers and Rams will travel to Melbourne.<\/p>\n But his opinion \u2014 based on this trip and his past visits to Australia \u2014 is that the 49ers should have an advantage in Week 1. The Rams, however, might re-adjust better upon their return to the United States, McConnell theorized.<\/p>\n The 49ers will get a full week to adjust after their 16-hour transpacific flight and 17-hour time change before playing the Rams.<\/p>\n \u201cI think it’ll be great for them,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cI think they’ll be fine by the weekend, and I think they’ll obviously be smart about how they taper it up.<\/p>\n \u201cI\u2019m sure they’ve done a ton of research, and all that stuff. So, I think for me, if I was going over to play one game, and obviously there’s so much riding on the line in the NFL on one game, that’s probably the route that I would go.\u201d<\/p>\n The other part of the equation is the return to the U.S. for the final 16 games of the regular season. (The 49ers also have a Week 11 game in Mexico City<\/a> against the Minnesota Vikings.)<\/p>\n After Melbourne, the 49ers\u2019 Week 2 game is Sunday, Sept. 20, against the Miami Dolphins at Levi\u2019s Stadium. The Rams play on Monday, Sept. 21, against the New York Giants at SoFi Stadium in Inglewood.<\/p>\n \u201cThat’s the hard part, I found, was when we got back,\u201d McConnell said. \u201cIt’s taken, shoot, three, four days, for us to get back to normal. A lot of our staff got sick and we\u2019re fighting through that, too.<\/p>\n \u201cSo I think on the back end is maybe where I felt the adjustment period from Australia time coming back to the U.S.\u201d<\/p>\n