MELBOURNE, Australia -- The unmistakable aroma of greasy bacon and fried eggs sizzling violently on hotplates fills the nostrils as you make your way over the grassy knoll that slopes gently toward the members entrance of the Melbourne Cricket Ground. Expert baristas frantically wrestle coffee machines inside pop-up cafés stationed around the iconic coliseum, spitting out caffeine with production line efficiency as vibrant string and brass melodies from a Mariachi Band ring out into the cool, misty morning air.
It's just gone 7:23am [AEST] on this early spring Friday and while the sun has only recently begun poking its head over the horizon, Yarra Park has already completed the transition from undisturbed inner-city reserve to tailgate extravaganza. It's a sporting rite of passage that's as American as bald eagles and Abraham Lincoln, though this one carries a distinctly Australian flair. There may not be a vehicle in sight, but thanks to the magic of public transport, tens of thousands of giddy punters decked head-to-toe in seemingly every article of NFL paraphernalia known to man, and gripping their tickets to the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers' season-opener as if they'd scored prized entry into Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, are already basking in the occasion outside the turnstiles.
There was never a skerrick of doubt Melbourne would embrace and welcome the first meaningful NFL game to be staged on Australian soil with the widest of open arms. After all, this is the 'sporting capital of the world'; at least that was the promotional tagline drummed up in a Tourism Victoria boardroom once upon a time. Today that claim remains one its proud residents will shout from the rooftops at almost any opportunity, and while these five words may induce eyerolls from those residing north of the Murray River, year after year it's an assertion that continues to be underscored.
Melbourne is the only city on the planet to host both a tennis Grand Slam and a Formula One championship race. With the Melbourne Cup, it also stages one of the world's oldest and most celebrated horse races. The MCG itself has hosted countless titanic battles throughout its 172-year existence. There's the annual Boxing Day Test, the world's highest-attended cricket match. The AFL Grand Final, the showpiece game of Australia's most popular domestic sport. And, oh yeah, the Olympic Games. More recently, the stadium has hosted Premier League heavyweights Liverpool and Tottenham, as well as a football friendly between South American giants Brazil and Argentina.
Friday's blockbuster NFL showcase between the Rams and 49ers was the latest big-ticket item to be added to Melbourne's unmatched sporting honour roll. It was an event audaciously billed to rival anything the city had witnessed before it and one that ultimately delivered on the immense hype as San Francisco upset their divisional rival in front of 100,021 delirious fans -- the seventh-largest crowd in NFL history and the second-largest of any of the 63 games staged outside the United States.
The day provided the most appealing aspects of what every other major sport had previously brought to this city and wrapped it neatly into one enthralling three-and-a-bit hour package. It had the buzz, excitement, and carnival-like atmosphere of the Australian Open at Melbourne Park. It had the flashiness and exclusivity of Formula One at the picturesque Albert Park Lake. It even had the electric, goosebump-inducing game day atmosphere that wasn't just reminiscent of a sellout AFL final, but several notches above.
Even everyone's greatest fear of poor viewability proved to be mostly a storm in a teacup. Sure, the oval-shaped ground, which features 20,400 square metres of available turf, isn't perfectly suited to hosting an NFL game that requires just 4,460 square metres of playing area. And yes, viral fan videos from the row one seats made it seem as if the field was in a different city. However, for most in attendance, there were zero impediments to their viewing experience.
But the most meaningful footprint this whirlwind week Down Under will leave in its wake is one of substantial positive economic impact. A reported AU$15 million was invested by the Victorian Government to bring this game to Melbourne, a move that must now be viewed as one of the state's greatest financial decisions.
An estimated 39% of those in attendance on Friday had travelled from interstate, while a further 10% were international tourists. That's almost 50,000 visitors to the city for a single football game. According to NAB analysis, more than AU$300 million is expected to flow through Melbourne businesses, including hotels, restaurants, and bars, across Friday and Saturday -- an average expenditure of approximately AU$6 million per hour.
That figure may fall well short of the AU$722.32 million injected into the local economy from this year's Australian Open, but remember, the tennis season's first major is a two-week-long event that features in excess of 400 athletes. On a dollar-per-minute basis, this three-and-a-bit hour clash between the Rams and 49ers produced a supercharged economic boost to Melbourne, the like it has never before seen.
And yet that total expenditure may still pale into insignificance when compared to the unprecedented international exposure the city received. It's not inconceivable the state's financial outlay was recouped before we even arrived at gameday, such was the heavy publicity of Melbourne throughout the week-long build-up. Heck, 49ers beat reporters David Lombardi and Grant Cohn together might have achieved more for Visit Victoria since last Friday than any promotional campaign it's run over the last decade. The week-long showcase of Melbourne's cafes, beaches, sports precincts, cuisine, people, and just about everything else, has been a godsend for the city.
One can argue not since the Olympic Games in 1956 has Melbourne as a city been put so firmly on the American radar through sports. While the Australian Open mainly taps into the Asian market -- after all, it is the Grand Slam of Asia-Pacific -- and Formula One is aimed predominantly at a European audience, the NFL is very clearly the United States' baby. On Friday, millions on the other side of the Pacific Ocean were presented with the glorious images of the MCG and the Melbourne skyline, many for the very first time. With every passing minute, the case to visit Australia becoming more and more compelling.
When the NFL announced it was heading Down Under for a game in Melbourne some 18 months ago, it labelled the trip its 'Australian experiment'. But with the appetite for American sports Down Under as great as in any market on the planet, and the NFL being the king of them all, this was never a true experiment; it was always going to be a raging success.
