An oval ball, in September, in Melbourne usually means just one thing – the business end of the Australian rules football (AFL) season.
But on Friday, at the unsportingly early time of 7am, 100,000 people will begin filing into the Melbourne Cricket Ground (MCG) for a very un-Australian sporting spectacle – American football.
The LA Rams take on the San Francisco 49ers in their opening National Football League (NFL) fixture, the first time the country has hosted a meaningful, non-exhibition regular season game.
The match sold out months ago, with more than half the crowd expected to be people living outside the state of Victoria. On the official ticket resale site, a restricted view seat is priced at more than A$650 (£350/US$470).
“Walking down the street, it’s AFL finals week and you wouldn’t even know,” says Thomas McMillan, host of the NFL podcast Any Given Sunday Australia.
“It’s all NFL everywhere. There are bars that are nothing but 49ers bars or Rams bars. We have a Ram Tram getting around the district. When you’re in Melbourne and AFL isn’t visible, it shows how big this is at the moment.”
Kickoff at 10.35am local time on Friday may not be typical for local fans, but meets the demands of prime time US television schedules and their advertisers.