The NFL’s first game in Melbourne, Australia, drew 100,021 fans, making it the seventh most-attended regular-season game in NFL history and just the fourth since 2000 to draw over 100,000 attendees.
The 10:35 a.m. local time kickoff didn’t quiet the crowd at Melbourne Cricket Ground, even if the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers offenses got off to a sleepy start. (The Netflix pregame broadcast reported that bars around the stadium opened at 6 a.m.)
MCG is the largest stadium in the Southern Hemisphere with an official capacity of 100,024. NFL home stadium capacities range from about 60,000 to 82,500 at MetLife Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., the home of the New York Giants and Jets. The most-attended NFL regular season games are:
• Sept. 20, 2009; Dallas Cowboys vs. New York Giants at Cowboys Stadium (now AT&T Stadium); attendance 105,121 (about 30,000 standing-room only)
• Oct. 2, 2005; San Francisco 49ers vs. Arizona Cardinals at Estadio Azteca in Mexico City; attendance 103, 467
• Nov. 10, 1957; San Francisco 49ers at Los Angeles Rams at L.A. Coliseum; attendance 102,368
The last time the NFL drew more than 100,000 fans in the regular season was in Week 17 of the 2009 campaign, when the Cowboys-Eagles game recorded 100,621 fans in Dallas. That was the same season that Dallas opened Cowboys Stadium, and standing room increased capacity at the new venue.
The NFL’s Melbourne game also outdrew the highest-attended cricket match at MCG. On Dec. 26, 2025, Australia and England drew 94,199 fans to the arena. The largest crowd at MCG for an Australia Football League game is 121,696 for the 1970 VFL Grand Final. In its current configuration with a capacity of 100,024, the MCG has twice hit that mark for the 2022 and 2023 VFL Grand Final.
This article originally appeared in The Athletic.
