In a groundbreaking move that expands the NFL’s global footprint and streaming partnerships, streaming giant Netflix will carry the highly anticipated Week 1 NFC West rivalry matchup between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams live from Melbourne, Australia, an anonymous source familiar with the league’s planning confirmed to The Associated Press on Thursday. The source requested anonymity because the full 2025 NFL regular-season schedule has not yet been finalized for public release.
The historic cross-Pacific clash is scheduled to kick off in primetime for U.S. viewers at 8:35 p.m. Eastern Time and 5:35 p.m. Pacific Time on September 10. Due to time zone differences—Melbourne sits 14 hours ahead of New York and 17 hours ahead of the two teams’ home markets on the U.S. West Coast—the game will start at 10:35 a.m. local time on September 11 for Australian sports fans.
This game marks a major milestone for the NFL’s international expansion efforts: it is one of nine regular-season international matchups the league will stage during the 2025 campaign, and the first NFL regular-season game ever to be held in Australia. The Rams, led by reigning AP NFL Most Valuable Player Matthew Stafford, will serve as the designated home team for the contest. Last season, the two NFC West foes split their regular-season head-to-head series, with 49ers starting quarterback Brock Purdy leading his team to one win over Stafford and the Rams.
The NFL’s 2025 season will officially get underway one day earlier, on September 9, with the annual kickoff game featuring the Seattle Seahawks, who will host the contest as they begin their defense of their Super Bowl title. The league has not yet announced the Seahawks’ opponent for the opening matchup. League insiders note a Super Bowl LX rematch is a strong possibility for the kickoff slot, as the New England Patriots are currently scheduled to travel to Seattle for the 2025 season. This follows the league’s 2024 scheduling pattern, which placed the Super Bowl LIX rematch between the Philadelphia Eagles and Kansas City Chiefs in Week 2.
This season’s early September 10 Week 1 kickoff is only the second time the NFL has opened its regular season on a Wednesday. The only prior instance came in 2012, when the New York Giants hosted the Dallas Cowboys to avoid a scheduling conflict with President Barack Obama’s keynote address on the final night of that year’s Democratic National Convention.
As of Thursday, league officials were still putting the final touches on the full 2025 schedule, with an official public announcement expected as early as next week. Insiders add the league aims to complete the schedule before the weekend, as major broadcast network upfronts—annual events where networks sell advertising inventory for the upcoming fall season—are set to begin on Monday. Traditionally, linear broadcast partners reveal their top showcase games to advertisers during these upfront events.
Netflix, which has held exclusive rights to NFL Christmas Day games for the past two seasons, is also in consideration to carry additional matchups on key holiday dates this coming season, including the day before Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve. The streaming service is already confirmed to air another two Christmas Day games in 2025, extending its expanding relationship with the league.