NFL ROUNDUP \ News and notes

Ravens match offer sheet for Taylor: Baltimore matched the one-year, $3 million offer sheet running Chester Taylor signed last week with the Cleveland Browns. The Ravens had until Wednesday to match the offer for free agent Taylor, the primary backup to Pro Bowler Jamal Lewis, but opted to act Monday. The deal includes a $2 million base salary, a $1 million signing bonus and a pair of $100,000 incentive clauses.49ers in Mexico City: The NFL will play its first regular season game outside the United States Oct. 2 when the Cardinals play the 49ers in Mexico City. ESPN will televise the Sunday night game from Azteca Stadium.
NFL opener: The Patriots will open the season Sept. 8 with a home game against the Raiders. Also on the first weekend, Indianapolis will be at Baltimore for the Sunday night game on ESPN. The remainder of the 2005 schedule will be announced next month.
Atlanta's Super Bowl push: A $150 million renovation to the Georgia Dome is at the center of Atlanta's bid for the 2009 Super Bowl. Falcons owner Arthur Blank and members of the bid committee hope to turn the dome into more of an entertainment destination, complete with an atrium similar to that in Green Bay's new Lambeau Field, retail shops and restaurants. The number of club seats and suites will be increased, as well.
Super Bowl rotation: The Dolphins are proposing a rotation for Super Bowls that would include one or two sites -- including Miami -- that would host the game every four years or so. Miami will stage the game in 2007, its first since 1999. A rotation could include another semi-permanent site and then two years in each four-year period where other cities could bid to be host. Commissioner Paul Tagliabue said he was intrigued by the idea of a Super Bowl complex, which also includes "making the stadium sacred turf, with entertainment on the outside of the stadium" on game day. "We'd have a clean field focused entirely on football," he said, adding the pregame and halftime shows also would be held outside the stadium. "It could take the game to an entirely higher level over time, and there'd be permanent elements where teams could bring in sponsors who could have a permanent piece of the facility." Several owners, when asked about such an idea, said it would be fine -- as long as their city was included in the rotation.
NFL Network on Prime Time? Tagliabue admitted the NFL Network, launched in 2003 and available on DirecTV and some cable outlets, could be part of the mix for a Thursday-Saturday prime-time television package. "We're still considering a wide range of alternatives," he said. "In some of those alternatives, the NFL Network could be a carrier of games." The league has re-signed CBS and Fox for the Sunday afternoon packages, beginning with the 2006 season. But ABC and ESPN are still negotiating the Sunday-Monday prime-time packages.
Associated Press
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