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Origin showcase proves key point amid MCG NFL controversy
Since the NFL announced that its first ever game on Australian shores will take place at the MCG, there has been significant local doubt about whether the fabled coliseum was the right venue for the job.
Those in Sydney and Brisbane were particularly frustrated by the snubbing, given Accor Stadium and Suncorp Stadium are both rectangular venues that would be natural fits for American football.
A general view during game two of the Men's State of Origin series between New South Wales and Queensland at the MCG. Getty
However, the sheer scale of the MCG, and a financial push from the state government, ultimately got Victoria over the line.
Until the 49ers and the Rams face off in September, it’s going to be impossible to truly know whether it was the right call, but every early indication points to it looming as an enormous success.
And ironically, it was the NRL’s showpiece State of Origin event that ticked the final box.
Firstly and most importantly however, it looks like every seat available inside the MCG will be sold for the game. It will be a full house, which is no small feat on a Friday afternoon (get your leave approvals in with work ASAP if you’re going).
Knowing the game would take place on a weekday, Victoria was always going to be the safest bet. History says Melburnian sports fans rock up in droves to any sporting occasion of significance. The country only has one chance to make a first impression here.
The chief complaint has naturally been the dimensions of the MCG and how it would look with a skinny, rectangular NFL field drawn in the middle of it.
Having attended State of Origin at the MCG on Wednesday night, with the full intention of testing different viewing positions around the ground, this criticism feels largely unfounded.
Yes, if you’re sitting on level one at the fence, you’re not going to have the best seat in the house. This is the case with AFL games as well though, as much as you get more of an up-close look at the action.
From that vantage point, Origin was still a great experience. You got the full atmosphere and energy of the crowd and still had a decent view of the action.
NFL sidelines are much more crowded than rugby league, and that may obstruct views somewhat. We will have to wait and see.
However, if you have any other seat in the house, you are going to be in for an absolute treat.
The view inside the MCG of State of Origin. getty
American football is more stop-start than our Australian sports. You won’t have to worry about straining your eyes from the top of level four to work out what’s going on, given the ball isn’t flying around all over the place.
The NFL field is slightly skinnier than what is used in the NRL by about 20m, but being there in person on Wednesday night, that difference feels like it won’t matter.
When the Rams and 49ers rock up in September, it will be one of the greatest spectacles in NFL history. Not quite the biggest crowd ever, but on the podium and something unlike either team will have ever experienced.
It will not feel like a standard game either. A largely neutral-supporting attendance will have its own unique rhythms.
If this game was in San Francisco (Santa Clara, to be specific), the crowd would be 95 per cent 49ers fans. They would produce deafening cheers whenever the Rams are on offence to make it hard for the players to communicate, and vice versa when they have the ball.
That will not be the case at the MCG. For the majority of fans in attendance, it will be their first NFL game and they likely won’t have allegiance either way. We have seen this before in international games, where teams often struggle to adjust to the irregular atmosphere.
Obviously, this wasn’t the case for the State of Origin game, despite being in neutral territory. The crowd was made up of travelling diehards from both states, and Victorians largely pulling for Queensland to even the series up (and/or because we don’t like Sydney, sorry).
All of this is to say, the NFL has a winner on its hands. International games always have their own oddities and unique flavours to them, and playing the first game on Australian soil in the MCG coliseum in front of 100,000 fans will be unlike anything American viewers have seen before.
