After weeks of negotiations and the past few days of fine-tuning the details, the NFL and National Automobile Dealers Association officially consummated agreement Wednesday evening on a deal that will permit Super Bowl XXXVI to remain in New Orleans and allow the league to conduct a full slate of playoff games.

The championship game, originally scheduled for Jan. 27 in the Louisiana Superdome, will now be played Feb. 3. And the NADA's annual convention, booked for Feb. 2-5, will move forward by a week, to Jan. 26-29, to accommodate the NFL's needs.

In essence, the two entities simply switched weeks, but the complicated arrangements and complex issues of dealing with vendors and signed contracts made the agreement a dicey undertaking at times and forced the NFL to consider a variety of options.

NADA executive director David Hyatt told ESPN.com that the NFL paid the NADA $7.5 million to handle costs of changing its convention dates. The league also will contribute up to $500,000 in matching funds for the NADA's Survivor Relief Fund, which will benefit victims of the terrorist attacks. Hyatt had told ESPN.com earlier his group had signed contracts with 500-plus vendors and service providers.

"America's new car dealers are doing their part to help the country through the healing process and to maintain important traditions," NADA president Phil Brady said.

The need to switch Super Bowl dates resulted, of course, from the league's cancellation of its Sept. 16-17 games in the wake of the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and rural Pennsylvania. Once league officials decided it would contest the entire 16-game schedule rather than a 15-game slate, negotiations with the NADA began in earnest.

The league's two point men on negotiations, vice president Roger Goodell and executive director of special events Jim Steeg, met several times with NADA officials, reviewed the contracts and gauged the price of switching dates. Said one league official: "We were looking for a 'win-win' and that's what we accomplished."

The likelihood of a deal amenable to both sides appeared to wane for a few days late last week but took an opportune turn Monday evening when commissioner Paul Tagliabue himself phoned Brady, made a verbal proposal, and then followed that up with a formal document. At that point the deal was all but struck.

Brady tentatively accepted the proposal, but the contract still had to be presented to the NADA board of directors, which was done during a Tuesday mid-day conference call. That left only four issues, including a green light from several of the New Orleans hotels involved with both the NFL and NADA, to be resolved.

The NADA legal counsels reviewed the proposal Wednesday and approved it. Shortly after 6 p.m., league attorneys also approved of final language in the agreement.

"We deeply appreciate the willingness of Phil Brady and America's new car dealers to work with us," Tagliabue said. "Thanks to their leadership, our fans and teams can look forward to a full complement of playoffs and to a great Super Bowl weekend in New Orleans. We trust that the NADA will enjoy a super convention as well."

Tagliabue also praised Tom Benson, the New Orleans Saints' owner, for his help.

Benson, a former auto dealer, said he talked to a lot of friends in the business in recent days and wasn't sure a switch could be made.

"Everybody had to cooperate on this in all the little things that were involved," he said. "At first everybody said it couldn't be done."

Benson called it a good move for the city.

"There were a lot of problems, things going on," he said. "And you can see it cost a little money, too, but it was worth it. It was worth it to the team and this community to get it done."

During the last few weeks, the NFL considered paring the number of wild-card entries from three per conference to one, which would have left an eight-team playoff field, the smallest since 1977. Other options included maintaining the 12-team postseason format but compacting the playoffs, with wild-card qualifiers forced to play two games within a five-day span.

The league also considered a plan in which it would have staged its two conference championship games in New Orleans but moved Super Bowl XXXVI to an alternate site: either Pasadena, Miami or Tampa. Despite much publicity over the weekend, New York City was never seriously considered as an option.

The revised NFL schedule will now call for the final week of regular-season play to be Jan. 5-7, formerly the wild-card weekend. The wild-card games will now be played Jan. 12-13, the division-round contests Jan. 19-20 and the conference championship games Jan. 27.

Super Bowl XXXVI will be the first to be played in February, a precedent the league has attempted to dodge, but which could not be avoided given the unusual circumstances.

New Orleans will be hosting the game for the ninth time and the city, impacted in recent years by a slumping economy, fought hard to salvage its rights to Super Bowl XXXVI. The city also enjoys a strong relationship with the NADA, which is slated to holds its annual convention there in 2005 and 2009 as well.

"We felt confident this could be worked out," New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial said. "I want to thank both the NFL and NADA for understanding the importance of their events to our city. As usual, I can promise, we will be great hosts."

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com. The Associated Press contributed to this report.