The NFL and National Auto Dealers Association have reached a tentative agreement to swap dates in New Orleans and allow Super Bowl XXXV to be played at the Superdome on Feb. 3, ESPN's Chris Mortensen reported Monday.

The deal is contingent on the NADA Board of Directors giving the plan its approval. David Hyatt of the NADA said the board would consider the proposal at a telephone conference at midday Tuesday.

"This proposal is certainly a sign of progress," Hyatt said. "I feel this is the first time we've made definite progress toward a solution."

Details of the proposal were not made public, but the NADA has wanted the NFL to cover its multimillion-dollar expenses and losses of shifting the convention.

New Orleans Mayor Marc Morial said he talked to NFL commissioner Paul Tagliabue twice on Monday and "he indicated they were very close" to a deal.

"I'm 99 per cent certain that the Super Bowl will stay in New Orleans," Morial said at a news conference. "There are still details that are to be worked out, but my feeling is very good about this situation."

"In the past 24 hours, our fortunes have turned 180 degrees in the positive," he said.

The Super Bowl had been scheduled for New Orleans on Jan. 27, but the NFL wanted to delay the playoffs a week because of the week it took off after the terrorist attacks in New York, Washington and Pennsylvania. The NFL also was looking at other cities, including Los Angeles, Tampa and Miami, for Feb. 3 if the game was unable to be played in New Orleans.

In January 1999, when Super Bowl XXXIII was held in Miami, the game's local financial impact was estimated at $396 million. Some 110,700 visitors spent an average of $400.03 per day over a 4.52-day average visit, according to Sports Management Research Institute.

Previously, many sports economists have questioned the accuracy of such lofty figures. What is often missing from the equation is calculating the Super Bowl's economic impact in comparison to an average weekend in the host city. "For large events like the Super Bowl, Olympics or World Series, most of the people who come to town are taking up hotel space that would be filled anyway if that event wasn't there," sports economist Andrew Zimbalist said Monday.

"There's substitution involved," Zimbalist said. "For the most part, Super Bowls are played in warm weather climates in January, so if the Super Bowl wasn't there, the rooms would still be filled with tourists."

On Sunday, New York Democratic Sen. Charles Schumer proposed that the Super Bowl could be held at Giants Stadium on the first Sunday in February.

Schumer said a Super Bowl could be worth $400 million to the city.That estimate, according to Schumer spokesperson Bradley Tusk, was based on research group analysis and previously published estimates of the Super Bowl's economic impact on host cities.

ESPN.com business writer Darren Rovell and the Associated Press contributed to this report.