ORLANDO -- Start spreadin' the news: Despite plenty of sentiment by some owners and league officials to stage the 2007 Super Bowl game in New York City, a reaction to the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, the challenge may be too daunting even for the world's premier sports entity.

Wilson: No Snow Bowl

The owner of the team in one of the NFL's coldest climates doesn't like the idea of playing the Super Bowl in an outdoor stadium in the north. "The championship game should be played in championship conditions," Ralph Wilson, owner of the Buffalo Bills, said Monday. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue has suggested the owners consider playing the 2007 game in New York or Washington, in part out of respect for the victims of the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11. To do that, they would have to lift the rule that the game be played either indoors or at sites where the temperature in January or February averages 50 degrees or more. "We have an interest in bringing our ultimate game to those markets, " Tagliabue said, "and it's not just a short-term consideration. Eventually, if we do our job right, people we see it has merit." So far, only two Super Bowls have been played in cold-weather sites: at the Pontiac Silverdome in 1982 and at the Metrodome in Minneapolis in 1992. -- Associated Press

At least in the short-term.

"Personally, I think it's a terrific idea, because we're talking about putting the world's greatest sports event in the world's greatest city," said Indianapolis Colts owner Jim Irsay, a member of the Super Bowl policy committee. "But when you look at everything we've got to accomplish, even with five years to do it, you wonder if 2007 is possible."

There is a growing suspicion, even among supporters, that it will not be. League sources familiar with the Super Bowl procurement process acknowledged here that the committees formed in Washington and New York to pursue the title game were taken aback by the overwhelming detail and commitment that must be included in a city's bid.

In essence, a successful bid becomes a binding document, a contract of sorts between the host committee and the league. There is much work to be done, even Giants co-owner Bob Tisch, who has become a pseudo point man for the New York game, acknowledged on Monday morning.

The league's Super Bowl committee will discuss potential championships games for New York and Washington at this week's annual NFL meetings here. A decision on whether it is viable to move ahead, though, might not come until next fall or even later. Of the 11 owners informally polled by ESPN.com on Monday, seven said the 2007 target date might be unrealistic.

Three owners added that they don't think a Super Bowl game will ever be held in New York or Washington because there are too many hurdles for a cold-weather site with an open-air stadium. And there is this: If the city of Phoenix ever gets its stadium mess straightened out, it has all but been promised the 2007 Super Bowl game under what the league terms a "best effort" plan.

"I'm as much in favor of helping those two cities as anyone here," said Buffalo owner Ralph Wilson. "But if you're going to New York, then I can make a case for Buffalo, too. Someone is going to have to be pretty persuasive to get me to commit to this."

Said Pittsburgh Steelers owner Dan Rooney: "I think it's a hard sell." In the wake of the Sept. 11 events, commissioner Paul Tagliabue proposed the league consider both New York and Washington, D.C., as potential Super Bowl sites. He reiterated on Monday a desire to carry through with that proposal, but seemed to back off a timetable. Many owners here for the annual league meetings, however, feel a Super Bowl in New York is perhaps an untenable pursuit no matter the time frame.

There have been, to date, two Super Bowl games contested in so-called "northern tier" cities, in Pontiac, Mich., (1982) and Minneapolis (1992). But both those cities have domed stadiums. The relatively new FedEx Field in the Washington area and Giants Stadium in East Rutherford, N.J., can be pretty frigid in late January. There is an initiative to construct a new stadium for the Jets in Manhattan, but that would also be an open-air facility.

Tagliabue on Monday adroitly backed away from the proposed 2007 date and there is a feeling that, having requested that owners strongly consider the northern sites, he may have acted out of emotion and without having thought through all the inherent and necessary adjustments. To even bid for a Super Bowl game, a city with an open-air stadium must have an average temperature of 50 degrees in January, and that rule will have to be suspended or changed.

But there are other considerations as well, problems that some suggest may keep the northern cities from ever hosing a Super Bowl game.

In both New York and Washington, for instance, auxiliary press box space would have to be erected. Staging a Super Bowl-caliber halftime show would be difficult in poor weather. And if it snowed during the Super Bowl weekend, municipalities might have to devote much energy and equipment simply to clearing paths to the stadium. Getting community involvement would be tough if the weather was poor.

A New York game would present some unique problems, as well, since the league would have to deal with two different states. One unusual complication would be requesting New Jersey repeal its state tax on tickets for a game being pitched by New York, which would reap the lion's share of the benefits, not to mention more than $300 million in revenues, from a Super Bowl.

	“	Personally, I think it's a terrific idea, because we're talking about putting the world's greatest sports event in the world's greatest city. But when you look at everything we've got to accomplish, even with five years to do it, you wonder if 2007 is possible. ”
		— Jim Irsay, Colts owner

Also, the next four Super Bowl games are in San Diego (2003), Houston (2004), Jacksonville (2005) and Detroit (2006). Those are not locales normally associated with Super Bowl games and to stage a 2007 contest in a non-traditional site might blunt the number of corporations who send executives to the game. And while the league might never concede as much, corporate patrons are key to the Super Bowl golden goose.

The owners are walking a fine line on this one. To simply dismiss a New York or Washington title game out of hand would be to appear insensitive to what those cities have undergone over the past six months. To suggest that other "northern tier" sites are just as deserving comes off as greedy in the public eye. But privately, some owners insisted Monday that their cities possess better facilities than New York or Washington, and that they would demand consideration for a title game in the future.

Tagliabue said Monday he did not want the pursuit of a New York or Washington game to be "short term" or "an emotional reaction" to the Sept. 11 events.

"We are interested in serving our fans and bringing the ultimate game to those markets," said the commissioner.

But no one should circle the final Sunday in January of 2007 on their calendars and expect to be in New York or Washington for the Super Bowl.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.