An Australia-first multi-year deal between the NFL and Victorian Authorities, which is able to see Melbourne Cricket Floor host Nationwide Soccer League (NFL) common season video games from 2026, is welcome information for town’s hoteliers.
Lodging Australia (Victoria) Basic Supervisor, Dougal Hollis, has welcomed the information, saying it displays Melbourne’s envied popularity as a world-leading main occasions metropolis, with document crowds on the current Australian Components 1 Grand Prix, Boxing Day Take a look at and Australian Open Grand Slam solely serving to reinforce this popularity additional.
“A protracted historical past of profitable main occasion supply undoubtedly provides the NFL requisite confidence that internet hosting NFL fixtures in Melbourne will rating a ‘landing’ with native and worldwide soccer followers alike,” stated Hollis.
“NFL is extremely standard in Australia, the game reportedly boasting 6.6m followers throughout the nation.
“Tv audiences in the USA are additionally important, averaging 21m followers throughout the opening week of the 2024 season.
“Elevated publicity to North American markets encourages higher potential for US-based NFL followers to journey to Melbourne, from an essential in-bound journey market at present value $239m yearly to Victoria.”
Lodging Australia (Victoria) Advisory Group Chair, Peter Minatsis, stated there’s a powerful correlation between elevated resort occupancies and main occasion timing.
“Most NFL video games are performed on Sunday afternoons, or Monday evenings in the USA,” he stated.
“Assuming Melbourne’s hosted NFL video games observe an analogous sample, this scheduling would show a fine addition to early-week resort occupancies throughout Melbourne metropolis.
“Melbourne is one among few world cities the place world class sporting and cultural precincts are inside straightforward strolling distance of the CBD. This compact range provides an actual carnival environment throughout main occasion durations and is not possible for many different cities to duplicate.”
Delta Air Strains lately confirmed three new direct flights from Los Angeles to Melbourne, commencing December 2025. The transfer is a well timed addition to those routes, with 1,200 continuous flights between Melbourne and the USA every year now carrying 435,000 passengers.
