Tottenham's progress in building its new stadium "has left NFL bosses impressed and excited for the partnership to come," according to Ben Reynolds of SKY SPORTS. The club began work on a 61,000-seater stadium "that will be the largest Premier League ground in London and boast purpose-built facilities for NFL, with a retractable grass field and an artificial surface underneath." Next season will be Tottenham's last at White Hart Lane and after seeing the building work on its new home firsthand, NFL Exec VP/Int'l Mark Waller said that "he was excited for the sport's future in north London." He said, "You can feel the energy and the progress being made. It's a great sign. This new stadium is critical for us" (SKY SPORTS, 6/15). In London, David Churchill wrote NFL execs "have been in Tottenham for talks throughout the week." Waller "was walked around the construction site" with Tottenham Chair Daniel Levy. Waller: "It is encouraging to see the new stadium starting to take shape and it certainly whets the appetite for our games here." Levy said, "We have exciting times ahead and our partnership with the NFL, which will see them bringing their own brand of football to Tottenham, will add even more vibrancy to this part of north London" (EVENING STANDARD, 6/15). ESPN's Dan Kilpatrick wrote although Tottenham is focused on staging one-off NFL games in the same way as Wembley has done previously, there "is the longer-term potential for the stadium to be home to a permanent NFL franchise in London." Waller said that the organization "was also discussing sponsorship and training facilities with Tottenham." He said, "We've always said we need to have options in London over where to play our games, and the fact that in this stadium we'll be able to have the roll-in roll-out field means we'll always have the opportunity to play. We're building a huge new relationship" (ESPN, 6/15).
