PHILADELPHIA -- Short of addressing a few remaining details, Super Bowl XLI in 2007 will be played in Miami, commissioner Paul Tagliabue confirmed here on Tuesday during an NFL owners meeting.

But it is the continuing prospect of adding another "northern tier" Super Bowl in 2008, at Giants Stadium in the New York/New Jersey area or FedEx Field near Washington, D.C., that garnered much of the interest when the subject turned to future championship games.

Tagliabue first suggested the potential for a title game in New York or Washington more than a year ago. The events of Tuesday ratcheted up the possibility, since each city will be among the sites asked to make a formal presentation in October at Chicago, where the 2008 game will be awarded.

The two other cities that will bid on the '08 Super Bowl are Phoenix, where the Cardinals finally have moved forward with plans for a new stadium, and Tampa. While there are a lot of issues with placing a game in Washington or New York, primarily fears about the weather, some sentiment remains for awarding a championship to one of those sites.

The feeling had been that Tagliabue first proposed a Washington or New York game because of the Sept. 11, 2001 terrorist attacks on those cities. In fact, some NFL officials claimed that was, indeed, the genesis for the idea.

But on Tuesday, he insisted his rationale was more because of the "unique nature" of the cities, with New York being a cultural capital and Washington the center of national and perhaps even world politics.

New York faces a significant hurdle, however, since Giants Stadium will require a $250 million facelift to meet NFL standards. But negotiations between the Giants and officials from the New Jersey Sports and Exposition Authority have left the two sides far apart on how the upgrades will be funded.

Giants vice president John Mara allowed last week that time is running out.

The next three Super Bowls have already been awarded: Houston in 2004, Jacksonville for 2005 and Detroit in 2006.

Len Pasquarelli is a senior writer for ESPN.com.