EmailPrintOpen Extended ReactionsAs the NFL prepared for its first regular-season game in Australia to open the 2026 season, careful thought was put into how to get the Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers the nearly 8,000 miles from California to Melbourne.The league -- with help from the teams -- settled on a Qantas Airbus A380. The planes had 84 lie-flat seats, ensuring each player had a bed on the flight. Each charter flight flew with four pilots, 22 cabin crew and one traveling charter manager on board.In comparison, when the Pittsburgh Steelers flew to Dublin in September 2025, they flew on Aer Lingus as part of a partnership with the airline. A player, who spoke on the condition of anonymity, said Aer Lingus was "like Spirit," a low-cost carrier that shut down earlier this year. The player also said that only a handful of players had business class seats, which were allotted by seniority.There are no guidelines in the current NFL collective bargaining agreement on team travel, and there hasn't been much to show there's a correct way to do it. The last two times the Rams played internationally, they flew into the country the day before. The result didn't go their way this season against the 49ers, but it did last season in a blowout victory over the Jacksonville Jaguars in London. Teams currently have the freedom to travel when they choose for international games.It is a topic that is especially important given the NFL's international expansion as the league will play a record nine international games in 2026. The NFL currently has the ability to play up to 11 games outside of North America, including a yearly contest at Wembley Stadium involving the Jaguars based on the current agreement with the NFLPA.What appears to matter to players is the accommodations teams dedicated to travel on domestic and international trips. In February, ESPN obtained the results of the NFLPA's 2026 report cards, which are anonymous surveys done annually that include grades on categories with everything from the team's facilities to treatment of families to head coach and general manager.In the newest NFLPA surveys, the 49ers received a C-plus in the team travel category and the Rams a B. The Steelers, Philadelphia Eagles and New England Patriots were the only three teams to receive an F. The Miami Dolphins received an A, the highest grade in the category. Among the top four teams in the category -- the Dolphins (A), New Orleans Saints (A-minus), Seattle Seahawks (A-minus) and Denver Broncos (A-minus) -- there were common themes about what makes for a positive team travel experience: having personal space and leg room on a flight (including the ability to recline seats to a laying position), the condition of the plane, the amenities available and advance notice given for the team travel schedule.The report cards are based on a survey of 1,759 players (around 80% of the NFL) across the league, administered from Nov. 3 to Dec. 11, 2025.This is the fourth year the NFLPA has conducted these surveys. ESPN spoke with more than a dozen players, coaches and front office executives about "team travel" and the feedback that serves as the basis for the NFLPA's grades.Linebacker Kaden Elliss, who reunited with the Saints after three seasons with the Atlanta Falcons, said he doesn't necessarily need "luxury all the time where you go" when traveling with the team, but that it's nice to feel taken care of by the organization on the road."It is nice to know that you give everything you can, you put everything you can into it and it's nice to know and it's very apparent when you have an owner that's willing to do the same," Elliss said. "I think [Saints owner Gayle. Benson] just has a really awesome track record of, like, we're going to make sure we want to be the best and we're going to be the best in everything we do, including travel."THE LIE-FLAT SEATS were not the reason Niners wide receiver Mike Evans decided to sign with the 49ers in free agency. But it certainly didn't hurt. In early March, Evans reached out to longtime Niners tight end George Kittle to learn more about how the team is run. Among the many topics that came up was plane seating and how the team travels."He was a big fan of how we traveled with the lay down [seats] stuff and he's like, "Yep, I never had that,'" Kittle said. "And I was like, 'It's crazy, but welcome to the 49ers.'"Evans got an early taste of what travel with the Niners will look like when he and his teammates opened the season in Melbourne. Though the NFL began its international series in 2007, this trip required the longest flight NFL teams have ever taken for a regular-season game.The two teams handled it differently, with the 49ers landing a week before to practice there. Los Angeles spent almost the same amount of time in the air (29 hours) than on the ground (36 hours) in Melbourne. Although the teams made the final decisions, both head coaches said they talked to players about how they would handle the travel.While in Melbourne, 49ers running back Christian McCaffrey and fullback Kyle Juszczyk spent time at the Saint Haven Club, a spa less than a mile away from their hotel.There, the team arranged for players to have access to everything from hyperbaric chambers to red light to hot and cold plunge to massage to acupuncture -- "literally everything" the team needed to take care of their bodies almost 8,000 miles from home, Juszczyk said."Honestly, we've had more out here than we usually have [at home]," 49ers defensive end Nick Bosa said.The setup was part of the work the NFL and the 49ers did for months in an attempt to make sure the athletes were as prepared as possible to spend their week of travel on the road.The 49ers are no strangers to a weeklong stay, as it is something they've done in recent years to acclimate to their travel schedules. In 2022, the Niners spent time in Colorado Springs, Colorado, before playing in Mexico City in an effort to adjust to the altitude. They'll do that again before their Mexico City game against the Vikings in Week 11. San Francisco has also done the same at IMG Academy in Florida (2019) and The Greenbrier Resort in West Virginia (2020, '21 and '22).The Steelers flew to Dublin for their Week 4 game last season, they opted to fly on the Friday before the Sunday game. In comparison, the Jaguars spent the week before they played the Rams last year at a hotel outside of London.The Steelers went straight to the hotel from the airport with a brief window to settle in before practicing at the field on the property.Steelers coaches, a player said, told the players not to fall asleep on the Friday after they landed, a task the player found challenging.That player had previously played in an international game with another team and spent the week in Europe. On that trip, the player said he had a lie-flat seat on the plane."I think if they're going to have us travel to the other side of the [world] to produce them some money, then I think they should do us the common courtesy to letting us stay the whole week so we can at least experience the place that we're traveling to," he said. "Y'all want us to make so much money for y'all, but y'all don't care about us enough to say, 'OK, well we're going to take y'all out there, then guess what? We're going to take care of y'all.'"I don't know if it's the league owners or if it's the NFL as a whole, but the NFL's always been like that. It's more about how they're viewed outwardly than how we view them inwardly."THOUGH INTERNATIONAL TRAVEL has been top of mind given the recent trip to Melbourne and the Dallas Cowboys' Week 3 contest to Rio de Janeiro against the Baltimore Ravens, even domestic travel has its challenges.Saints general manager Mickey Loomis, whose team received an A-minus in team travel on the survey, said the team tries to stay in the best hotels it can, but there are cities where that is more challenging."For example, playing in Dallas and Miami is going to be different than somewhere like Pittsburgh and Buffalo," a former Patriots player, who last played for the team in 2024, said. "And that becomes hard when you're traveling with 53 players, 20-plus coaches, 20-plus trainers and equipment. Right there, you're almost at 100 people -- and then you have IT staff, video staff, all the other support staff, so the number of people you're housing jumps up crazy fast. You need the ballroom space, the capability to host big things, and that changes the hotel you can stay at, obviously."I just always knew when we were traveling to certain cities, it wasn't going to be at the nicest of places. I think about NBA teams, even hockey, baseball -- NBA teams are traveling with 15 guys. Hockey is 20-something, plus three coaches. In the NFL, you're just dealing with such a large number of people that it becomes logistically tough."The former Patriots player said the ratings in the team travel category are also probably relative to what players are used to when they're traveling on their own."Players make a lot of money," the former player said. "When they go stay somewhere, they stay at nice places."The Seahawks don't skimp when it comes to hotels -- we're talking Ritz-Carltons in some cities."I think the investment we make in where we stay is really important," Seahawks head coach Mike Macdonald said. "We stay in great hotels, so we're really spoiled there."WITH THE SEAHAWKS tucked away in the Pacific Northwest, the nearest NFL venue -- the 49ers' Levi's Stadium -- is roughly 700 air miles away. Road games against their other NFC West foes require flights of at least 2 hours. Thus, they're often at or near the top of the league in terms of miles traveled domestically each season.The organization takes steps -- and pulls out the checkbook -- to make the travel less onerous. The Seahawks charter a spacious Boeing 747-481. They will typically leave two days early for road games in the Central or Eastern time zone to help players' body clocks adjust before kickoff."The commitment to being on three-day trips, that's a pretty penny when you add it up on some of those East Coast trips," Macdonald said."But that's an asset for us."I think the team enjoys our plane, which was a commitment from the powers that be. So it's just continuous investment in how we do things and kind of putting the players first is a shoutout to the people making those decisions and cutting the check ultimately."Including their victory in Super Bowl LX, the Seahawks are 16-2 away from home in Macdonald's two seasons. Since 2018, when Pete Carroll was still the coach, they're 24-5 in road games that kick off at 10 a.m. PT.That's no accident, Seahawks safety Julian Love said."It's really critical that we can be prepared for a game if we're traveling east on those 10 a.m. games for us," Love said. "I would say [Vice President of Health and Player Performance] Sam Ramsden, Mike Macdonald, several people high up have been really intentional about the plan and execution. We've got a bigger plane so guys can not feel cramped and their legs can be fresh. The hydration, the nutritionists, [Andrea Vanderwoude and Samanntha Clark] do a great job. It's very clear why."If that doesn't get an A, I don't know what gets an A."The Seahawks have received an A or A-minus on the player surveys the past two seasons.WHEN THE NFL'S CBA, which was ratified in 2020 and runs through the next five years, is next negotiated, it wouldn't be surprising to see additional language around how the NFL handles international travel -- especially the frequency and length of trips -- to be part of that conversation.Though Elliss said there is a lot that goes into making a decision in free agency, he does think the report card grades play a part when players are deciding which team to join."I think it just gives you a tell, especially when the same teams are top or bottom year after year after year," Elliss said. "It just gives you a tell of how the organization's run because you want an organization, if you're going to give everything you can, you want them to do everything they can, and there are some organizations that do and some that don't. And I think the report card makes it pretty evident."Loomis said he pays attention to the surveys because of perception, but he also does his own surveys with players on more specific questions."The best surveys for me is when I get players from other teams and they're with us for a year, I'll go ask them and say, 'All right, what did you see at other places that we don't do or that you think we can do better?' Loomis said. "And invariably, I don't get very many answers for that. [They'll say], 'No, this is the best place I've ever been.' And you'll hear that."I talked to [Former Bills guard] David Edwards and David said, there's a bunch of former Saints people in Buffalo, coaches and players, etc. And he said, they just talked so well about the environment, place, culture, the locker room, how you guys handle things, he said it was an easy decision [to sign with the Saints]. So that to me is the right survey."ESPN's Brady Henderson, Brooke Pryor, Mike Reiss, Katherine Terrell and Nick Wagoner contributed to this report.
