San Francisco 49ers head coach hasn’t been shy with his disdain for opening the 2026 season against the division rival Los Angeles Rams 19 hours away in Melbourne, Australia.
“I was so fired up [when I heard],” Shanahan told reporters in a sarcastic tone. “That was our goal to go 19 hours away to play a game. … We’ll deal with it. And I think there’s [nine] international games. We’ve got two of them, so we’re fired up about that.
“… I don’t see any pro [for us]. It’s cool for the league to play globally. I think that’s awesome. But as far as the team doing it, no, there’s not much benefit to it. Sometimes it’s nice to get a bye week after but doesn’t happen in Week 1.”
Shanahan’s criticisms were heard by many including NFL commissioner Roger Goodell, who addressed Shanahan’s remarks Friday during a press conference in Australia.
Goodell Fires Back at Kyle Shanahan, 49ers
GettyNFL commissioner Roger Goodell
While Shanahan didn’t directly call out Goodell with his remarks, many took what he said as a shot across the bow at the commissioner.
Reporters asked Goodell how he felt about Shanahan’s gripe on Friday, to which he had a blunt message for the 49ers head coach.
“Coaches [should] focus on winning — that’s their No. 1 job,” Goodell told reporters. “And so, coach Shanahan is enthusiastic and a great football coach, but also someone who truly understands the importance of expanding our game globally. But his job is to win, his job is to play. I always say coaches like to play at 1 o’clock and 4 o’clock, and don’t get in the way of that.”
Goodell also joked about having a remedy for any possible jetlag Shanahan might experience following his 19-hour flight from San Francisco to Melbourne.
“I have an app for him [for jetlag], which I’m going to send to him because my wife hooked me up with an app, and I’ve got to tell you, I feel great,” Goodell stated. “I have not felt any jetlag at all. We’ve been here since Tuesday morning, and I thought it was a relatively easy trip.”
49ers-Rams Just the Start of NFL’s Australia Plans
GettySan Francisco 49ers head coach Kyle Shanahan and Los Angeles Rams head coach Sean McVay
Despite Shanahan’s objection, the NFL doesn’t have plans of making the 49ers-Rams showdown a one-off.
Goodell actually doubled down on the league’s plan to work Australia into the yearly rotations as part of the NFL’s International Series games.
“There’s no question that we’re going to be playing here again,” Goodell stated. “Our view is that we’re coming here for the long term. We don’t come as a one-offs. This isn’t a circus. This is something that’s an investment in this, in this market and we believe that, this is long term and will be great for the NFL long term.”
The hype for the Australia game is palpable.
In fact, there’s a possibility it could break the NFL attendance record, which currently belongs to the 2009 regular-season game between the Dallas Cowboys and New York Giants that drew 105,121 fans.
Goodell hinted that record could be in jeopardy.
“We’re going to have to talk and see how many more seats we can get in there,” Goodell said. “So I think the record is slightly over 100 … but it’s going to be darn close and maybe we can get there.”
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