Accenture supports NFL and Seattle Seahawks’ huge Australian tour

Excitement is building for the first ever in-season NFL match to be played on Australian soil next month, with Accenture central as both a league sponsor and global partner of the Seattle Seahawks.

While the live match will take place between the San Francisco 49ers and Los Angeles Rams at the MCG on 11th of September, the Seahawks are bringing their 2025 championship trophy downunder as part of a three-day NFL ‘kick-off’ festival in Melbourne.

Accenture signed on as the franchise’s first ever global partner in June, having earlier entered into a five-year deal with the NFL as official business & technology consulting partner in part to help lay the digital foundations in support of the sport’s global expansion.

That mandate also forms part of Accenture’s hook-up with the Hawks: “We’re getting ready to welcome the Seahawks Trophy Tour to Australia,” the local branch stated. “As part of Accenture’s global partnership, the tour will bring the team’s Super Bowl LX trophy closer to fans here and create memorable experiences as American football continues to grow around the world.”

Although solid data is hard to come by, the sport’s popularity in Australia has undoubtedly grown in recent times, helped along by free-to-air coverage and the prominence of Aussie punters. A survey by research company KAPRI suggests a nationwide following of 1.7 million adults, many of them committed, with the country also said to now be the NFL’s sixth-biggest market outside the US.

For certain, with tickets practically sold out to the 100,000-capacity MCG, the upcoming match is set to become one of the NFL’s most attended in regular season history – on a weekday morning in Melbourne, smack-bang in the middle of the AFL finals series. But before that takes place, fans will also be able to watch Seattle take on New England in the rematch season opener on the big screens.

That event at Melbourne Park (ticket is $50) doubles as the launch of the NFL’s three-day ‘Kickoff’ extravaganza in the city, which also features the Hawks’ trophy viewing at the Imperial Hotel presented by Accenture. Other activities include ‘cheer clinics’, a flag footy showcase, and performances from the likes of Peking Duk, Grinspoon, and Sneaky Sound System.

Speaking on Accenture’s backing of the team (which incidentally just sold to Sun Microsystems co-founder Vinod Khosla for a cool $9.5 billion), Isabelle Van Coevord, Seattle’s head of global markets, said, “This partnership brings together two organisations committed to innovation and global engagement, and is an exciting step forward as we continue to expand our international efforts.”