‘What do you say to that?’: Famous US pundit left stunned by Aussies in bold NFL declaration

One of the most well-known American media personalities has given Australia a glowing endorsement while making a bold declaration after Friday’s NFL success.

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The MCG played host to the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers, with the franchises opening their 2026 seasons in front of 100,021 people at the home of footy.

It was the first-ever NFL season-proper match on Australian soil, and by lunchtime, it was the league’s seventh-most attended regular-season game in history.

Aussies with a passion for the overseas sport, as well as a handful of travelling Americans, flocked to Melbourne’s sporting colosseum before 10am AEST on a Friday to fill it.

And while the result wasn’t ultimately tightly-fought, with the 49ers shocking the Super-Bowl-favourite Rams, 27-7, the event was truly a spectacle, complete with in-game fan engagement, the Jonas Brothers taking centre stage at half-time, and a spine-tingling pre-game flyover.

Famous ESPN commentator Stephen A. Smith couldn’t help but be impressed by the occasion, even if his praise of the people Down Under was slightly misdirected.

“Let’s give props to the NFL once again,” Smith began on ESPN’s flagship show ‘First Take’ on Saturday AEST.

“The NFL is showing that it is rapidly becoming the number one sport in the world.

“I know in America that’s a given, but … when a hundred thousand people show up at a cricket arena to watch an NFL game at 10:30 in the morning, local time, what do you say to that?

“A hundred thousand people, on a weekday showing up at a place where they’re usually watching cricket, and instead they’re watching an NFL game.

“I mean, damn, I’ve got to give props where props are due — the NFL wants to globalise its brand, and ladies and gentlemen, they are doing it.”

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But despite Smith’s praise, and the event being well-received locally, not everyone was pleased by the NFL’s call to bring the game Down Under.

“Rams-Niners in Australia, for what? Because they like football? Cool, they can turn it on (the TV). It’s already Christmas in Australia, they’re a month and a half ahead,” fellow ESPN media personality Scott van Pelt said on his podcast in the lead-up.

“It’s not possible to be flying for that long in an aeroplane and still be on Earth. That’s where two division rivals from the best division in football are playing. I just feel like it’s entirely unnecessary.

“It’s not that I don’t love it, I just think at some point, and they’ve already reached the point … they’ve taken so many games that are significant out of the Sunday window that the space that already belongs entirely to them is just marginalised.

“What they realise is that’s going to belong to us anyway. Some is good, more is better, the most is the best and they can take the most.”

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