New York still in hunt for 2010 Super Bowl

New York moved a step closer to getting the 2010 Super Bowl on Tuesday when an NFL committee approved the Jets’ bid to get the game – contingent on the construction of a new stadium on the West Side of Manhattan.

The approval by the league’s Super Bowl advisory committee came a day after the Jets upped their bid for the rights to build on the land to $720 million, surpassing the $700 million from an energy company and the $600 million from Cablevision, which owns Madison Square Garden. The Dolan family, which owns Cablevision, has been in a bitter fight to block construction of the stadium.

The Jets initiated the move to get the 2010 game at this meeting, hoping it would help their chances of building the stadium. But whether it will be built is still a major question – the city and state support it, but numerous political groups in New York oppose it.

“It’s a great step for New York, but the final step is tomorrow,” Jets owner Woody Johnson said of the Super Bowl bid. “I hate to prejudge what the guys might do. But today is a good sign.”

Commissioner Paul Tagliabue, who has supported a Super Bowl in New York since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, backed the bid. League owners are expected to approve it on Wednesday, contingent on the stadium being built. The 2009 Super Bowl has not yet been awarded. Atlanta, Miami, Houston and Tampa are bidding for the game, which is expected to be awarded at meetings this spring.

The Jets, who currently play at Giants Stadium in New Jersey, have committed $800 million for the project, with the city and state required to raise the rest of what is expected to be a $1.7 billion total.

Reinfeldt rejoins Seahawks’ front office

Mike Reinfeldt, the former All-Pro safety and AFC defensive player of the year in 1979, has been named vice president of football administration by the Seattle Seahawks.

The 51-year-old Reinfeldt was Seattle’s senior vice president from 1999-2004 but left amid a front office dispute.

He returned as a consultant last month, after the firing of former president of football operations Bob Whitsitt, and helped re-sign quarterback Matt Hasselbeck and tackle Walter Jones.

Reinfeldt was instrumental in hiring Holmgren as coach of the Green Bay Packers in 1992. Holmgren lured Reinfeldt to Seattle seven years later when he became coach of the Seahawks.

Former Steelers linebacker dies

David Little, a durable linebacker for the Pittsburgh Steelers who was voted to the Pro Bowl in 1990, died while weightlifting at home in Miami. He was 46.

Little had heart disease, and a cardiac fluttering Thursday caused him to drop 250 pounds of weights on his chest, the coroner said Tuesday. The weights rolled onto his neck and suffocated him, the coroner said.

Little played his entire 12-year career in Pittsburgh after he was drafted out of Florida in the seventh round in 1981. His older brother, Larry Little, was an All-Pro guard for the Miami Dolphins.

Packers land O’Dwyer

Guard Matt O’Dwyer agreed to a contract with the Green Bay Packers after missing all but the final four games last season with Tampa Bay because of a chest injury, his agent Mark Bartelstein said.

O’Dwyer will sign a one-year deal for the veteran minimum of $765,000.