Los Angeles has a shot to host 2016 Super Bowl

http://www.latimes.com/sports/printedition/la-sp-super-bowl-quickhits31-2009jan31,0,6126001.story

Roger Goodell says Los Angeles has a shot to host 2016 Super Bowl
The NFL commissioner says league will take a hard look at it, regardless of whether Los Angeles has a team by then.
By Sam Farmer
January 31, 2009

Reporting from Tampa, Fla. -- In his annual Super Bowl news conference Friday, NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell said the league would take a hard look at bringing the Super Bowl back to Los Angeles in 2016 -- the 50th anniversary of the game -- whether or not the city has a team.

The first Super Bowl was held in L.A., at the Coliseum, and 2016 would also mark the 70th anniversary of the 1946 L.A. Rams, the first integrated major professional sports team. L.A. businessmen Casey Wasserman and Tim Leiweke are trying to position L.A. to play host to Super Bowl L and the Pro Bowl that precedes it, either in the Coliseum or Rose Bowl -- or in a new stadium, if one is built by then.

Overtime changes?

Goodell said the NFL is going to take a hard look at how overtime games are decided, including the possibility of ruling out games being decided by a field goal on the opening drive of the extra period.

"It's been considered before, and I'm sure it will be considered among the alternatives," he said. "There are other ways of addressing the field goal on the first drive, and I think it's something the competition committee needs to consider."

He said that while historically about 30% of overtime games are decided when the team that wins the coin flip scores on its opening possession, that number has recently risen to roughly 47%.

"I think that's significant," he said. "It's something our committee needs to look at. When you couple that with the fact that our field-goal kickers are much more accurate than they have been in the past, that's a danger.

"We have talked about different concepts, and the committee will discuss this."