WA potentially failed in its bid to host a regular season National Football League game due to the distance of travel from the US, premier Roger Cook says.
Premier Roger Cook says travel was a potential sticking point with Western Australia’s pitch to host a regular season National Football League game in Perth.
On Thursday, it was confirmed that the NFL would head Down Under for the first time since 1999’s pre-season hit out between the Denver Broncos and San Diego {now Los Angeles} Chargers in Sydney, with the Los Angeles Rams – which have been assigned Australia and New Zealand under the league’s International Home Marketing Areas program since 2021 – hosting a regular season game at the Melbourne Cricket Ground.
The regular season game, part of a multi-year deal for an undisclosed amount, is likely to be held in September next year.
The multi-year deal will result in the Rams likely locking horns with the Super Bowl-bound Philadelphia Eagles, who like the Rams, play within the National Football Conference and also have marketing rights to Australia and NZ.
In September last year, the Eagles kicked off the 2025-26 NFL season in the Brazilian city of Sao Paulo, where they held off the Green Bay Packers 34-29.
Earlier this week, Mr Cook was asked whether WA had bid for the event and why it was potentially overlooked.
In January last year, the premier also publicly raised the prospect of pitching for an NFL pre-season game to be held at Optus Stadium.
“The key problem obviously in relation to that particular pitch is the distance the players, officials and people would have to travel to come to WA,” he said.
“But we do know the pitch that we did put in for the NFL was a very strong one.
“And of course, we have strong support from people like the UFC, WWE and the European football clubs in bringing great events to WA and opportunities for people to travel.”
Mr Cook said it was important that the WA continued to work hard to entice tourists to visit the state, due to the competitive nature that came with lobbying for major music and sporting events.
The NFL, which has held 55 regular season games overall outside of the US as part of its international game series, held games in the UK, Germany and Brazil this season.
