NFL commissioner says Super Bowl may someday be held in London

Updated: October 15, 2007, 7:23 PM ET
Associated Press

SCOTTSDALE, Ariz. -- A future Super Bowl champion may someday be crowned overseas in a game witnessed predominantly by a foreign audience, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said.

"There's a great deal of interest in holding a Super Bowl in London," Goodell told reporters Monday. "So we'll be looking at that."

The commissioner said London's new Wembley Stadium would make a great candidate for pro football's biggest matchup, given the enthusiasm overseas for the game.

The NFL has been expanding its overseas presence for years by televising games in Mexico, Canada and the United Kingdom. It's held preseason games in numerous countries and in 2005, the Arizona Cardinals and San Francisco 49ers played the first regular season match outside the United States.

The game at Azteca Stadium in Mexico drew the league's largest crowd to date, Goodell said, with 103,467 fans in attendance.

On Oct. 28, Wembley Stadium will host the first regular season NFL game outside North America.

It took just 90 minutes to sell the first 40,000 tickets for the Oct. 28 game between the Miami Dolphins and New York Giants. Goodell said that event organizers have sold 95,000 tickets in all.

Goodell spoke about the possibility of a British Super Bowl after a luncheon Monday in Scottsdale sponsored by the host committee for the 2008 Super Bowl in Arizona.

He said Arizona has done an "A-plus" job of getting ready for the Feb. 3 game at University of Phoenix Stadium in Glendale, a Phoenix suburb. The location of Arizona's previous Super Bowl in 1996, Sun Devil Stadium at Arizona State University in Tempe, was criticized for its lack of restrooms, limited skyboxes and crowded concourses.

Goodell said in the past, a lack of a decent stadium hurt the state's chances of hosting more Super Bowls.

But the University of Phoenix Stadium, which opened in 2006, is "a state-of-the-art facility," he said. "It gives an experience that I think our fans appreciate."


Copyright 2007 by The Associated Press

This story is from ESPN.com's automated news wire. Wire index

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