49ers Crush Rams 27-7 in Historic Australia Game.

The Rams and 49ers open their NFL seasons Friday in Melbourne in the league's first regular-season game ever played in Australia. The teams chose sharply different paths to get there.

• 49ers arrived more than a week early to adjust to the local schedule.
• Rams landed roughly 24 hours before kickoff, aiming to hold California body time.
• 100,000 fans are expected at the Melbourne Cricket Ground for the game.
• Rams are 3-0 in NFL international games under coach Sean McVay, all in London.

Why it matters: The NFL is using the Australia game to expand its global fan base. The teams' contrasting travel choices have drawn unexpected attention from sleep researchers.

• Fariha Abbasi-Feinberg, president of the American Academy of Sleep Medicine, told USA Today the 49ers followed conventional wisdom: arrive early, acclimate fully.
• She called the Rams' approach — staying on California time and sleeping on the flight — 'radically different' and said the outcome warrants scientific curiosity.

How 24 sources split on this story

Where they split: The core dispute is whether arriving early to acclimate or flying in late to preserve a home body clock better prepares players for a morning kickoff.

What’s next: The Rams fly home within two hours of the final whistle, completing a roughly 36-hour stay in Melbourne.

• Both coaching staffs say the game result, not travel plans, will determine the real winner of the debate.
• Will the Rams' California-clock strategy prove replicable, or does its success depend on specific roster and flight conditions?
• How much will Aaron Donald's absence from the Rams' lineup affect the outcome versus any travel-fatigue factor?