The NFL sold out its Australia game in 30 minutes – but will the sport make its mark Down Under?

On Friday morning in Melbourne, 100,021 people crammed into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for the first National Football League (NFL) game ever to be played in Australia .

Tickets for the clash between the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers – which the 49ers won 27-7 – sold out in about half an hour .

So, there is definitely interest in Australia.

But even though the NFL has played games around the world for decades, why has it now chosen to go to Australia, a country with a population of only about 28 million people with its own unique version of football? The expansion of the US’ biggest sport Culturally and financially , the NFL is the United States’ most dominant sport.

For decades, the league has hoped international games can bring new fans to the sport and help identify NFL-ready talent around the world.

Its first international game was an exhibition contest in Tokyo , Japan, in 1976.

In the mid-1980s , preseason games were played in Canada, the United Kingdom, Germany, Spain, Sweden and Mexico.

It wasn’t until 2005 when a regular-season match was hosted outside the US, in Mexico City .

After a one-year break, the NFL started hosting annual international games during the season.

Since then, regular-season games have been played in countries such as the UK, Germany, Spain, Brazil and Mexico.

This year, Australia and France were added to the slate.

So, why Melbourne? For the NFL, Commissioner Roger Goodell said expanding to Australia “underlines our ambitions to become a global sport and accelerate international growth.” He later added : We’re coming here for the long term.

We don’t come as a one-off.

Los Angeles Rams owner Stanley Kroenke also emphasised the value of the Australian market: When we first identified Australia as one of our global markets, it was not only because of our passionate fans who reside there, but also because of the important role Los Angeles plays in serving as a gateway to Australia and many countries across the Pacific.