NFL boss Mark Waller today toured Tottenham Hotspur’s under-construction stadium ahead of it becoming a future home for American football, saying: “It certainly whets the appetite.”

The north London club plans to be in the new £400 million, 61,000-seat stadium for the start of the 2018/19 football season, when it will also become home to at least two NFL matches every year. The deal will see it being used for NFL matches for at least 10 years.

NFL executives have been in Tottenham for talks throughout the week and to see how the new stadium, next to the existing White Hart Lane ground, is shaping up.

To accommodate both sports the state-of-the-art stadium, which will become London’s biggest Premier League club venue, will have a retractable grass field with an artificial surface underneath for NFL games.

Waller was walked around the construction site with Spurs chairman Daniel Levy.

He said: “It is encouraging to see the new stadium starting to take shape and it certainly whets the appetite for our games here.

“Our relationship with the club and the Tottenham community is a very important part of our future plans in the UK.”

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.”

American football is one of the UK’s fastest growing sports, with millions of fans and three games presently played annually in the NFL International Series at Wembley.

In October, Chancellor George Osborne expressed his desire for a permanent NFL team in London after meeting legends of the game, Dan Marino and Curtis Martin, before a Wembley showdown between the Miami Dolphins and New York Jets.Until now, Wembley has been the de facto home for American football games, with 14 held there since 2007. Crowds have always exceeded 80,000 — more than at some internationals.

This year, as part of the NFL’s International Series, a further two games will be played at Wembley, including the Indianapolis Colts v Jacksonville Jaguars, and Washington Redskins v Cincinnati Bengals. The New York Giants will play the LA Rams at Twickenham. Of the Tottenham construction, Waller added: “We are excited to see the full regeneration plan come to fruition as a key part of creating a great experience for our teams and fans.”

A Deloitte study found that the two London NFL games in 2013 delivered a £32 million boost to the capital’s economy. It suggested this could increase to £102 million with a London-hosted franchise playing eight regular games a season.