NFL owners are expected to vote next week on a possible Super Bowl for New York in 2010, contingent on a stadium being built for the New York Jets on the west side of Manhattan.
NFL spokesman Joe Browne said yesterday that the subject will be on the agenda for discussion and a vote during the annual three-day winter meetings that start Monday in Hawaii. A report on the New York Times Web site yesterday indicated that owners are likely to vote for a Super Bowl to be played there if the stadium is built.
"Many of our owners would view it very favorably to play a Super Bowl in Manhattan in a domed stadium," Brown said. "A final resolution will be discussed and probably voted on next week."
The Jets reportedly asked the league for a vote on the game next week in order to boost their campaign to get the stadium built. It's a politically charged issue because $600 million in public funds would be required to help build on what now is the home of a railroad yard near the Hudson River. In addition to the Jets, several bidders have emerged to purchase the site.
The NFL also is likely to announce next week that the first regular season game outside the United States will be played Oct. 2, a Sunday night, between the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers at Azteca Stadium in Mexico City. The largest crowd ever to witness an NFL game, 110,000 fans, crammed into the stadium in 1994 to watch a preseason game between the Dallas Cowboys and Houston Oilers.
Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said at the Super Bowl in February that the league hoped to play a regular season game outside the United States during the 2005 season.
-- Leonard Shapiro
