MELBOURNE, Australia — The Los Angeles Rams will serve as the designated home team for Thursday’s season opener against the San Francisco 49ers, but the Niners spent the week settling into Melbourne after taking a vastly different travel approach than their rivals. The trip represents the longest regular-season road trip in NFL history, with a 16-hour flight covering nearly 8,000 miles and a 10:35 a.m. (AEST) kickoff on Thursday.
The 49ers departed late Wednesday night and arrived early Friday morning, then used the weekend for light walk-throughs and “shake-outs” before conducting normal practices Monday through Wednesday. Head coach Kyle Shanahan said the decision followed consultations with people who have experience and study in long-distance travel; “the recommendation for everybody has been to tell us when to go,” Shanahan said.
Medical experts who have worked with NFL teams cited clear benefits to the Niners’ timeline. Dr. Cheri Mah, a sleep physician and performance specialist, said the extra days help players recover from travel fatigue separate from jet-lag adjustments. Mah added that the long flight itself is a fatigue factor that the team can address by allowing additional recovery time. Dr. Vonda Wright, an orthopedic sports surgeon, said the Niners would have several days to shift their schedules a couple of hours forward and to get “a solid eight [to] 10 hours of sleep,” though she noted they would not be completely acclimated.
The Rams, by contrast, planned to arrive the day before the game and both teams intend to return to California immediately after the contest. The NFL leaves travel plans for domestic and international games to each franchise. “It’s at the team’s discretion,” Charlotte Offord, general manager of NFL Australia and New Zealand, said, adding that teams have different methods for deciding what is best for their roster.
With such different strategies, the travel discrepancy figures to be a focal point of postgame discussion regardless of the outcome. Observers and team personnel alike are likely to include the timing of each club’s arrival among the factors examined in Week 1 analysis.
