Only a historic NFL game at the MCG could bring together one of the most powerful sports administrators on the planet, US pop-rock royalty, a Minogue and “Strauchanie”.
The eclectic mix of American and Aussie celebrities connected with business barons, politicians and influencers at the match between the LA Rams and San Francisco 49ers which saw the off-field show draw nearly as much attention as the game itself.
Roger Goodell, the commissioner of the NFL, was blending in well with the crowd outside the MCG before the game got under way.
Goodell, in white sneakers and a suit, walked through the huge crowd to various media engagements spruiking his brand of footy, with punters doing double-takes and some nabbing a rare selfie with the sport’s supremo.
The boss was hosting big-money guests including private equity boss Gerry Cardinale, the founder and chief executive of RedBird Capital Partners, who has forecast he’s using the trip to look at business opportunities here.
Other business names spotted included Melbourne Airport boss Lorie Argus, Qantas domestic chief executive Markus Svensson and the airline’s chief financial officer Rob Marcolina, as well as Netflix’s chief content officer Bela Bajaria.
Also representing the best of Australia were Victorian Chamber of Commerce chief executive Sally Curtain, TAB boss Gillon McLachlan and Visit Victoria board members Eddie McGuire and Andy Penn, who both deserved a pat on the back for helping lure the grand spectacle to our city.
US singers The Jonas Brothers, who provided the half-time entertainment, fuelled up on Thursday night for their big gig with dinner at Andrew McConnell’s celebrated CBD hotspot Gimlet.
Grammy Award-winning performer Harry Connick Jr. is a semi-local in Melbourne these days. The American singer spends six months of the year here and is regularly spotted in Collingwood.
He rolled into the MCG with his daughters Kate, Georgia and Charlotte. Notably, Kate, who cemented her adopted Aussie credentials with a role on Neighbours, wore an Essendon jumper to the game rather than wrapping herself in NFL merch.
“You have to stand out,” she quipped to this masthead.
As for Connick, he has a production business in Melbourne.“I’m here about six months a year. We have a production company here, so we’re always working and trying to find ways to work with the amazing talent here. It’s an extraordinary town,” he said.
“I think to have an NFL game in Australia is monumental. I mean, I’m not a player … but it’s just an incredible show of solidarity between the two countries, you know.”
Aussie winter Olympian Scotty James and his wife Chloe Stroll, who is the daughter of Canadian billionaire Lawrence Stroll, kicked off the list of sporting elite taking in the match alongside cricketer Mitchell Starc and former Australian women’s captain Alyssa Healy, and wheelchair tennis great Dylan Alcott.
No event at the MCG would be complete without a Daicos, and on Friday we got three. Collingwood champions Nick and Josh Daicos brought dad Peter along to catch the American NFL action.
Unsurprisingly, current and former AFL figures were at the game in plague proportions. Ben Cousins, Campbell Brown, Marc Murphy, Nathan Buckley, Cameron Ling, Brendan Fevola and Dyson Heppell were hard to miss as were Cody Weightman and Jack Viney. Also spied were Channel 7 weather presenter Jane Bunn, Victorian Institute of Sport boss Nicole Livingstone and Deputy Prime Minister Richard Marles.
Singer/TV host Dannii Minogue was one of the early celebrity arrivals, revealing the NFL match Down Under was the first time she had ever attended a sporting event at the MCG.
“I’ve never seen a sports game here, and I thought the first one was going to be coming to see my sister, and then this happened. I’m like, ‘Oh, God, NFL, I’m in’,” Minogue said.
Her sister is, of course, Kylie Minogue who will headline the pre-game show at the AFL grand final at the MCG on September 26.
Plenty of politicians and business identities got into the NFL vibe.
Premier Ben Carroll, Treasurer Colin Brooks, Tourism Minister Natalie Suleyman, Sports Minister Steve Dimopoulos and Major Events Minister Anthony Carbines were among the throng as were Opposition Leader Jess Wilson, Victoria Governor Margaret Gardner, federal Sports Minister Anika Wells and Lord Mayor of Melbourne Nick Reece.
Also in the house on Friday were ScreenVic chief executive Caroline Pitcher, War Machine film director Patrick Hughes, and Robert Connolly, director of the film The Dry, singers Kita Alexander, G Flip and Baker Boy, and actor Sam Corlett.
Today host Sarah Abo was tucked away in a VIP area while James Hird was seen walking among fans on level one of the stadium. GWS player Toby Greene was another AFL player taking in the game, as were influencers Bec Judd and Rozalia Russian, Luke and Sassy Scott, Elle Ray, DJ Tigerlily, entrepreneurs Bridgett and Bianca Roccisano and NRL players Jai Arrow and Reece Walsh.
Adding to the sense of carnival outside the MCG was the appearance of “Strauchanie”, or at least comedian Peter Helliar in character as the bogan fictional sporting star. He was mobbed by selfie hunters in the Carlton Dry enclosure. It takes all types.
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Fiona Byrne is the CBD columnist for The Age and The Sydney Morning Herald.Connect via email.