Sean McVay confirms Rams will fly Tuesday night for Thursday night game in Australia

Published September 6, 2026 10:24 PM The Rams are dealing with the short straw of a long trip to Australia by making the stay as short as possible.On Sunday, coach Sean McVay addressed the very different approach to playing in Melbourne, treating it as a quick-in, quick-out business trip at a time when the 49ers have basically moved there.“The guys had an idea, but I tell them, ‘Hey, let’s take it a day at a time, but for your guys’ understanding we’ll leave on what would be equivalent — I look at it as Friday evening,” McVay said. “It’s Tuesday night for you guys, but it would be the equivalent of Friday evening. Sleep through the night and then we’ll get there and we have kind of a rhythm. But I believe everything that we do, I think our guys, and I would hope — the most important thing to me is they know that, hey, everything we do is what we think is best. “It doesn’t mean that we think we’re right and a different approach is wrong. It’s just what we think is best based on the things that we’ve done and what we’ve learned over our time here. That’s what will always consistently drive our decision-making processes is with the players first and foremost at the forefront of our minds in every decision that we make and keeping guys in their normal rhythm and routine. Then some of the different things that we’ve done behind the scenes of people that have done this whether it’s different sports or people that have made these types of trips. We’ve tested it out with some guys and we feel like it’s been positive, but that’s what went into the approach.”The goal is to minimize the time in Melbourne. “What gives me confidence is I’m not going to really make it a big deal,” McVay said. “It’s, ‘Hey, this is what the reality is. We’ve got a long way to go, but let’s be ready to rock when that three-hour window that we’re allotted comes.’ That’s what it is. To spend a bunch of time talking about it — I get it with you guys, too, like I understand your questions but for me, I’ve told you guys what our approach is. Our expectation is our guys will be ready to go and I’m not worried about it because I know what our plans are. We’re going to follow that plan and then we’re going to focus on our preparation and try to go be at our best and go swing when we get a chance to play against a great team.”While San Francisco decided to go early to Australia in order to fully acclimate, the first game of the season isn’t the only game of the season. The 49ers will have to re-acclimate to America when they return from Melbourne, for a Week 2 trap game against the Dolphins. The Rams, by minimizing their time in the land down under, may be less under the gun to get ready for a Week 2 Monday night visit from the Giants.Either way, the league doesn’t care. The goal is to globalize the game. The inconveniences imposed upon two high-end NFC contenders don’t matter. The short-term impact on their prospects for the season is taking a back seat to the obsession with making a billion-dollar domestic business into a trillion-dollar international enterprise.