Daniel Levy wants Tottenham to stage a Premier League-NFL double-header at their new stadium.
Spurs hope to occupy their new 61,000-seat ground from the start of the 2018-19 campaign, and the plan is to host a minimum of two games per season at the £400million arena, over a 10-year period.
But Levy, the Tottenham chairman, and NFL executive Mark Waller have raised the possibility of playing two sports on the same day at the new ground.
Levy said: “I don’t think it’s something we’d want to try in our first game, but that is certainly realistic.
"How exciting: the idea of having the two biggest leagues in the world from a television perspective – fantastic! – play on the same day.”
Waller, the NFL’s executive vice-president of international, added: “One of the idle thoughts we have at the moment is whether you would really be able to play an NFL fixture and a Premier League game on the same day as a double header.
“It wouldn’t be absolutely out of the question. I don’t think you’d want to do it on a regular basis, but on a unique feature, it might be a really interesting idea.”
Tottenham plan to deploy a retractable pitch at the new ground which would suit NFL requirements. As Standard Sport first revealed last year, plans for the new stadium also feature dressing room areas conducive to the American sport.
In charge of a project that may cost £750m overall, Levy knows funding is a challenge, and the NFL tie-up is a significant part of that plan. It would also leave Tottenham in a strong position to host an eventual NFL London franchise.
Wembley currently hosts three NFL matches per year, with Jacksonville Jaguars committed to playing one game annually at the national stadium until 2020.
Levy told that fellow executives had initially been sceptical about the NFL partnership. He told ESPN: “I have lived and breathed this project from day one. It is absolutely my ambition to make it work.
Tottenham's new stadium - In Pictures
“When I first started talking about it internally at the club, again, I think people around me thought I was mad as well.
“I guess it's my tenacity to get it done because there were many times with the NFL where there wasn't going to be an arrangement. We just kept going back and saying: ‘What about this? What about that?'
"When we first went to them, we went with the idea of a joint stadium in some shape or form, without going through all the details at that stage.
"As we sat down and we went through all the operations, we worked out, 'What does the NFL need? What does football need?' We had a checklist of all the various things we wanted to achieve.”
This is Tottenham’s last season at White Hart Lane. Next season they will play home matches at Wembley, an agreement Spurs hope will be necessary only for the 2017-18 campaign.
