In the NFL, the bill always comes. Last year, the San Francisco 49ers were given a travel schedule so soft you couldn’t sleep on it.
In 2026? The unit sends them on forced marches around the world.
The huge property bonus the Niners enjoyed in 2025 is dead, and plans are being made to dispose of it in the Pacific Ocean during the team’s 16-hour flight in the fall.
Last season, the planners blessed San Francisco. Sure, the actual strength of the schedule ended up being the league average, but overall, it was completely manageable.
Now comes the payoff. The NFL is giving, and the NFL is booking you gigs in three different countries.
The league is always balanced.
And it all starts in Week 1: Australia.
Just reading makes my muscles strong. The Niners are expected to open their 2026 campaign on the dark side of the moon. And as ESPN’s Nick Wagoner astutely pointed out on X (The Everything App, of course), the opponent makes the whole charade even more stinging: the Los Angeles Rams.
Instead of their annual, breezy one-hour flight from SJC down to LAX — a flight so short that flight attendants don’t even bother with drink service — the Niners are burning an “easy” road game to fly to the Southern Hemisphere.
That trip will put them on the back foot physically for weeks. You can expect a bye week to compensate – maybe it’ll be Week 5 – but deep jet lag isn’t just a cold bath.
Then there is the back part of the gauntlet, which will be played without interruption due to possible early departure.
Instead of playing Sunday afternoon in Santa Clara, the 49ers will give up a home game to play in Mexico City this season. It’s good for business. Bad for lungs.
They trade at sea level with the Estadio Azteca, which sits at an elevation of 7,218 feet.
Throw in the smoke, noise, glitz and atmosphere of another international spectacle, and the single biggest obstacle thrown into the middle of what should be a playoff push.
Do the math. Calculate frequent flyer miles. Factor in time zones. Of course, no one will travel more in the 2026 season than San Francisco. Front Office Sports estimates they will travel about 38,000 miles round trip — the most of any NFL team ever.
The Niners are no longer just a football team; they are the game of the travel arena. This is Roger Goodell’s dream. If only he could get an 18th regular season game on the Moon.
Oh, and while we’re in the mood for more bad news: don’t be shocked if the Niners are selected to participate in the Hall of Fame’s preseason opener in Canton, Ohio, this August, too.
Of course, a hard journey is no guarantee of failure.
But what if things go sideways? When injuries pile up, legs look heavy, and the fourth quarter lead begins to evaporate? It gives everyone a brand new boogeyman.
A malfunctioning power station? Please. It was so last year. When the 2026 excuses start rolling in, we won’t be talking about EMF. No, we’re going to go deep into the quagmire of circadian rhythm disruption, local changes in gravity, and increased radiation exposure from air travel.
But the NFL is a ruthlessly egalitarian organization. If you get an edge one year, someone sitting in a Park Avenue office finds a way to beat it the next.
The Niners had their own place to stay. Now, they pay taxes.
John Lynch and Kyle Shanahan better solidify their ranks accordingly in the coming months.
They’ll need fresh legs, incredible depth, and plenty of pass rushers.
