The NFL’s first game in Melbourne, Australia drew 100,021 fans, the seventh-highest regular season attendance in NFL history and the fourth since 2000 to draw more than 100,000.
The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers offenses got off to a sleepy start, but that didn’t quiet the crowd at the Melbourne Cricket Ground at 10:35 a.m. local time. (The Netflix pregame broadcast reported that bars around the stadium opened at 6 p.m.)
A view of the MCG crowd
Vic Tabor
The MCG is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere, with an official capacity of 100,024. NFL home stadium capacities range from 60,000 to 82,500 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, NJ, home of the New York Giants and Jets. Most Attended NFL Regular Season Games:
• September 20, 2009: Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium). Attendance 105,121 (about 30,000 standing room only).
• October 2, 2005: San Francisco 49ers vs Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City; 103, 467 attendance.
• November 10, 1957 San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams at LA Coliseum; 102,368 attendance.
The last time the NFL drew more than 100,000 fans in the regular season was in Week 17 of the 2009 campaign, when a Cowboys-Eagles game in Dallas drew 100,621 fans. That was the season when Dallas opened Cowboys Stadium, and the standing room was expanded to capacity at the new venue.
The NFL’s Melbourne game also surpassed the highest-attended cricket match at the MCG. On December 26, 2025, Australia and England attracted 94,199 fans to the arena. The largest crowd at the MCG for an Australian Football League game was 121,696 for the 1970 VFL Grand Final. With a capacity of 100,024 in its current configuration, the MCG will hit that mark twice for the 2022 and 2023 AFL Grand Finals.