👉 Background: Melbourne may not have ocean-views like Sydney or the glitz of the Gold Coast, but it prides itself on its coffee culture, arts scene and of course being the home of sport. Between the Australian Open, Formula 1 Grand Prix, AFL Grand Final and Melbourne Cup, it brings a lot of people to the state for sport.

‍👉 What happened: The Victorian government has announced it has landed a multi-year deal to host the Los Angeles Rams in the NFL - for regular season matches. It’s believed that the Vic government will pay around $15 million to host each game… or as the NSW Premier called it, a “king’s ransom”.

‍👉 What else: If that wasn’t enough, it seems like the Victorian government is also bringing NBA teams to Melbourne for multiple exhibition matches in October this year to compete against local NBL teams.

What's the key learning?

💡Bringing major sporting events to a state is always a high-stakes game for governments. They need to balance the hefty price tag with the promise of economic returns.

💡While Victoria has had some financial misses (ahem Commonwealth Games 2026), it has also managed to make some of these sport investments work. For example:

• In 2023, the Melbourne Formula 1 Grand Prix generated $268 million in economic impact alone — versus the $100 million that the government invested.
• In 2024, the Australian Open generated over $533 million in economic impact for Victoria

💡So if the NFL and NBA deals follow a similar trajectory, they could inject significant dollars into the local economy, and reinforce Melbourne’s reputation as the sporting capital of Australia.