Meet 49ers vs. Rams Netflix broadcast team for NFL Australia game, from Luke Kuechly to Tom Pelissero
· Yahoo Sports
Meet 49ers vs. Rams Netflix broadcast team for NFL Australia game, from Luke Kuechly to Tom Pelissero originally appeared on The Sporting News. Add The Sporting News as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
As Netflix has expanded its sports portfolio, the streaming service is set for a monumental broadcast in Week 1 of the NFL season.
Visit salonsustainability.club for more information.
The Los Angeles Rams and San Francisco 49ers will battle at Melbourne Cricket Ground in Australia, marking the first-ever football game on the continent. Netflix successfully added the game to its schedule this year, which features five different games through the end of the regular season.
In its third season covering NFL games, Netflix has gone from loaning analysts and personalities to largely putting together its own broadcast team. That includes names who work for other networks and new faces that haven't found a spot on traditional network coverage before.
Here's the team that Netflix has put together for Rams vs. 49ers.
NFL HQ:Live NFL scores | Updated NFL standings | Full NFL schedule
Netflix broadcast team for 49ers vs. Rams
Studio crew: Elle Duncan, Michael Irvin, Nick Foles, Clay Matthews
Netflix has slowly begun to build a team around sporting event coverage, and the streaming service has made Elle Duncan a key part of that. The former ESPN employee joined Netflix in late 2025 and has been a part of baseball and MMA coverage as well as hosting the NFL games.
Around Duncan, Netflix brought in three former football players who had varying degrees of success in their careers. Michael Irvin is the highest-profile of the three, as the Pro Football Hall of Famer provides a lot of energy and media experience that will be welcome on the broadcast.
The other two members of the studio crew are Nick Foles and Clay Matthews, two recently retired former players getting their first job in television. Foles is most known for leading the Philadelphia Eagles to a win in Super Bowl 52, winning Super Bowl MVP in the game, while Matthews was a star for the Green Bay Packers and helped them win Super Bowl 45.
Broadcast crew: Noah Eagle, Luke Kuechly
Netflix's broadcast crew for 49ers vs. Rams is a new team that could be calling games together for years to come. Noah Eagle leads the team, adding this to his NBC responsibilities as he continues his rise in the sports media industry. Eagle first joined Netflix in 2024, as this will mark his third straight year working for the streaming service.
Next to Eagle, though, is a new face in broadcasting, with Luke Kuechly set to make his analyst debut for Netflix. Kuechly spent his entire career playing linebacker for the Carolina Panthers, where he was one of the best players in the league, racking up seven Pro Bowls and five First-Team All-Pros in that span. The 35-year-old was most recently part of the Pro Football Hall of Fame's class of 2026.
Sideline reporters: Tom Pelissero, MJ Acosta-Ruiz
For the game, Netflix is using two sideline reporters, presumably with one reporter assigned for each team. On one side is Tom Pelissero, who rose to prominence as an NFL Network insider but got laid off by ESPN in recent weeks. He landed on his feet, though, as he is now working for both Netflix and The Ringer.
Joining Pelissero is MJ Acosta-Ruiz, who has also worked for ESPN and NFL Network in her career. Acosta-Ruiz was a cheerleader in the NFL before making the move to sports media.
Rules analyst: Terry McAulay
Former NFL referee Terry McAulay retired in 2017 after two decades in that role, transitioning instead to television as a rules analyst. He currently works for NBC doing both NFL and college football games, but will assist with Netflix during the 2026 season.
MORE WEEK 1 NFL: