The San Francisco 49ers will face the biggest challenges in managing player workload during the upcoming NFL regular season, as they are scheduled for two international games.
With games set in Melbourne, Australia, and Mexico City, the NFC West team will endure an extremely demanding schedule over 17 weeks. To avoid imbalance from so much travel, 49ers general manager John Lynch said that the NFL is preparing a plan to lighten the load in the final stretch of the 2026 calendar.
John Lynch Shares NFL’s Plan to Ease 49ers’ Australia Travel Strain
According to the general manager, in an interview with NBC Sports, the league is exploring all possible alternatives to minimize the physical and mental wear caused by exhausting logistics. Lynch also mentioned that, after discussions with the league, the official schedule is expected to include adjustments that reduce time spent away from California.
Although the 49ers may receive logistical assistance in the final weeks of the competition, they will need to manage their on-field performance so that those games carry the importance the team desires at that point in the season.
John Lynch on playing in Australia and the burden of the 49ers playing two international games in 2026:
“I’ve never been to Australia. I don’t know if I necessarily wanted to go there for a football game, but we’re going and I’m excited to go… How do we take the burden off… pic.twitter.com/Dvuq8KLPBx
— Coach Yac 🗣 (@Coach_Yac) February 25, 2026
“We’ve talked with the league, and the league has assured us they’ll give us the grace in the back end. Things that we’re not going to go into, but in terms of scheduling, to help ease that burden. It’s part of another challenge,” Lynch said.
“I think we will set a record for the amount of travel in a year, but we always travel a lot. It just got a little bit more because of the distance of Australia. Part of it is exciting. We’ll embrace it, make the most of it. We’ll be smart about the way we approach it.”
49ers Could Break Record for Longest Distance Traveled
With the current schedule, the 49ers (ranked No. 4 in PFSN’s Offense Impact Metric with a B grade) are projected to travel more than 38,100 miles. The franchise could break the NFL’s all-time record for the longest distance traveled by a team in a single season, surpassing approximately 36,900 miles set by the Los Angeles Chargers and Los Angeles Rams.
Although the exact details are being kept under wraps by Lynch, the relief measures generally include the possibility of the NFL scheduling consecutive games on the East Coast or in regions near international destinations to avoid heavy cross-country travel multiple times in a row.
Another option would be to ensure the 49ers do not have to travel far in the final weeks of the regular season, making it easier to prepare for the playoffs.
