When it was announced the Los Angeles Rams would be hosting the San Francisco 49ers in Australia for a regular-season game, everyone understood what was really going on. The Rams didn’t like how Niners fans take over SoFi Stadium year after year, so they found a perfect opportunity to nullify the advantage San Francisco usually has there by playing them on a different continent.
That decision may backfire, though.
Estimates already suggest 49ers fans are going to outnumber Rams fans pretty heavily in the down-under contest. This doesn’t come as a huge shock, especially since team president Al Guido invoked data suggesting the Niners are the “globe’s team” a few months ago, so the Niners' reach truly is global.
Plus, even casual fans in Australia who don’t exactly care about either squad, but are intrigued by the matchup, are probably going to lean towards the Niners. San Francisco has been there all week doing media and practicing, whereas head coach Sean McVay's squad decided to show up pretty much right before the game.
That’s not very host-like behavior.
Rams will likely regret hosting 49ers in Australia after all
This is like someone who has the big family reunion at their house every year, but they don’t like how their brother is always clearly more well-liked by the rest of the family. So they decide to move the reunion to Australia to visit the Australian in-laws, but choose to show up last minute, while the brother gets in early and wins over the in-laws before the other brother has even shown up.
Got that? Yeah, that's what's happening in Week 1.
It’s going to be interesting to see whether this actually works to San Francisco’s advantage, though. It certainly should on defense if a bunch of Australians clad in red and gold are screaming at the top of their lungs. But chances are the fans aren’t going to know they’re supposed to be quiet when their favorite team is on offense so they can communicate with one another at the line of scrimmage.
There will probably just be a lot of yelling, which could force both sides to go to a silent count, which is basically how L.A. has to operate when the Niners and Rams play at SoFi.
So, good job Rams. You will have traveled many miles and gone on a very long flight just to recreate basically the exact conditions you would have had at your home stadium in the first place.
If that’s not a failed goal, then what is?
It is impressive 49ers fans travel so well and have such a wide global reach. Yet, it won’t count for much in Week 1 unless they come away with a victory, so they need to use it to their advantage and gain an important leg up over a bitter rival.
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