EXCLUSIVE

Tottenham are in talks with the NFL to host American football at their new stadium.

Wembley already stages three games a year and Standard Sport can reveal Spurs are also interested in a potentially lucrative tie-up with the NFL.

Spurs hope to kick off the 2018-19 season in a new £400million, 61,000-seat ground at White Hart Lane.

Designs produced by experienced stadium architects Populous, show a changing room in the East Stand which is significantly greater in size than either of those in the West Stand. The West Stand plans refer specifically to smaller home and away changing rooms suitable for football.

Standard Sport has spoken to NFL experts who confirm the East Stand zone would suit an NFL side. A typical “locker room” area must accommodate 53 players and 15-20 coaches — far more than is necessary for a football team. There must also be extensive space to house playing equipment, and provision for medical treatment as well as physiotherapy — which is factored into Tottenham’s drawings.

The plans contain a space for “taping, rehab, physio”. Taping is the practice of securing NFL players’ knees or ankles before or during games but the phrase is used far more in American sports than on this side of the Atlantic.

Wembley has hosted 11 NFL matches since 2007 and there will be three more games there in October and November, with the Jacksonville Jaguars, Miami Dolphins, New York Jets, Buffalo Bills, Kansas City Chiefs and Detroit Lions competing.

There has been at least one NFL match per year at Wembley since 2007, when Miami Dolphins took on New York Giants. Two years ago, Jacksonville Jaguars reached an agreement to play a home game at Wembley every year from 2013-16. The FA are thought to collect about £3m per game — so the incentive for Tottenham is clear.

Standard Sport understands the NFL believe Wembley is not ideal in terms of the experience it offers American football fans and would prefer a ground more suited to them. Spurs’ stadium could provide the solution and talks have taken place between the club and the sport’s governing body.

London is favourite to become the first city outside the USA to have an NFL team and the new ground would increase Spurs’ chances of being the base for a franchise.

The rough-and-tumble nature of NFL is enough to make a football groundsman wince but the financial benefits are clear. A pre-season tournament would provide a similar boost and is another logical source of extra revenue as chairman Daniel Levy tries to service effectively the cost of the new ground.

Spurs say the larger space would enable them to host summer competitions, similar to the Emirates Cup that takes place at Arsenal’s Emirates Stadium. Presumably, they would do this by splitting the East Stand dressing room in two. They have refused to comment on its possible use for NFL but sources do not rule out a multi-sport venue, which could also stage concerts.

Populous handled design projects for Wembley, the Olympic Stadium and Emirates Stadium, and talk on their website of their “experience of designing 14 new NFL stadiums and three major NFL expansions”. The website lists offices in six American cities as well as three in Australia and one in London. There are also bases in India, Taiwan and Singapore.