Car Dealers: We Have Deal for NFL

Although it looks as if New Orleans will keep this season’s Super Bowl, the NFL and car dealers were still working Tuesday to complete an agreement to switch dates.

“It’s not done,” said David Hyatt, spokesman for the National Automobile Dealers Assn., whose annual convention is scheduled for the week of Feb. 3, when the NFL wants to play the Super Bowl.

Hyatt said NADA’s executive committee sent a reworded version of the NFL’s latest proposal back to the league Tuesday, complete with “technical clarifications.”

The league is reportedly offering the car dealers between $10 million and $12 million to facilitate the swap.

The NFL and NADA are working on securing a sufficient number of hotel rooms for the new dates, Hyatt said, and to this point neither group has enough.

Asked Monday whether a deal would be completed by midweek, NFL Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said: “I would certainly hope so. It’s not that complicated once you make a proposal.”