BOSTON (AP) - Build a new stadium, host the Super Bowl to show it off.

The NFL rewarded the San Francisco Bay Area on Tuesday with hosting rights for the 2016 championship game, slotting the 50th Super Bowl in the 49ers' high-tech Santa Clara stadium scheduled to open next year.

The league also voted at its spring meetings to give the 2017 game to Houston, which last hosted the big game in 2004.

"After losing a Super Bowl, it feels really good to win a Super Bowl," said 49ers CEO Jed York, whose team lost to Baltimore in the NFL title game in February. "We are so excited to be able to put on the `Golden Super Bowl' in the Golden State."

The back-to-back, first-ballot votes also sent a message to South Florida that it needs to settle its squabble over renovations at the Miami Dolphins' stadium before it will get a chance to host its 11th Super Bowl.

"I can tell you that I think the stadium is a very import part of any of these proposals. The condition of the stadium is a factor," commissioner Roger Goodell said. "I think it's the stadium, at the end of the day. Their proposal was really quite exciting. I think owners would like to be in Miami. But it's competitive right now."

The 49ers are preparing to begin play in 2014 in what they are billing as the most technologically advanced stadium in the world _ the first cashless, ticketless venue in NFL championship history, with WiFi capability for 75,000 people. The 2016 Super Bowl will be the first in northern California since the 1985 game at Stanford Stadium.

When Goodell announced the 2016 decision, members of the San Francisco bid committee let out a roar of approval, then toasted each other with champagne. Asked what he believed swayed the owners to vote for San Francisco, York added: "It's the willpower of an entire area that gave an overwhelming push for us."

It was the first time in a decade that a Super Bowl was awarded on the first ballot. York said 25 percent of the proceeds from the game will be donated to fight poverty in the Bay Area.

"The Bay Area has been waiting for a (title) game since 1985. We have a stadium now," said Daniel Lurie, a leader of the San Francisco bid. "We are just thrilled and couldn't be happier about this."

Houston staged the 2004 Super Bowl, which is perhaps best known for Janet Jackson's halftime "wardrobe malfunction." That was just two years after Reliant Stadium opened.

"I think a lot of them just felt like, `Hey, it's Houston's time,'" Texans owner Robert McNair said. "They knew we could do a good job. From 2004 to `17, that's 13 years. So I agree, I think it's Houston's time."

Miami has hosted 10 of them _ including the Jets' upset of the Colts in 1969 _ and is tied with New Orleans for the most. But South Florida got rejected twice after the Florida Legislature did not support financing to renovate Sun Life Stadium _ a likely backlash over the Marlins' new baseball stadium.

Multibillionaire Dolphins owner Stephen Ross contends $350 million in stadium improvements are badly needed, but he doesn't want to pay for them by himself. Nor does he want a scaled-down renovation of the 26-year-old facility.

"I suspect there's a couple of state reps down in Miami-Dade County where I live who are going to look at this and realize this was a huge mistake," South Florida bid committee chairman Rodney Barreto said. "We had the better bid. I could just look at the body language from the NFL staff. It's a shame. We may not see another Super Bowl for another 10 years."

Ross said South Florida "won't stop trying" to get one.

Next Feb. 2, the game goes outdoors in a cold-weather site for the first time, at MetLife Stadium in the New Jersey Meadowlands. If that gamble pays off for the NFL, look for other cities in similar climates _ Washington, Baltimore, Philadelphia, Chicago, Denver _ to bid for future Super Bowls.

The 2015 game will be played in the Phoenix area.

Earlier Tuesday, owners approved a $200 million loan for stadium construction in Atlanta. The multipurpose stadium could cost as much as $1 billion, with team owner Arthur Blank committed to funding most of it. Blank called the decision by the team owners an "important milestone" in moving the project forward. The owners also approved financing for renovations of stadiums in Charlotte and Philadelphia.

Speaking with reporters after the votes, Goodell also said:

_ The draft will be held between May 8 and May 17 next year because the venue, Radio City Music Hall, is hosting an Easter show in April. He expects the draft will remain in May, with other adjustments to the NFL's calendar, including the dates for the combine and the opening of free agency, to be discussed with the players' union.

_ A third international game in upcoming seasons could be added now that both games for 2013 in London have sold out.

_ The Pro Bowl could be moved from Hawaii back to mainland cities after the 2014 game, but will still be held on the Sunday one week before the Super Bowl.

_ Expanding the playoffs, and cutting two games off the preseason, still are being discussed. A reduced preseason could happen with either the current 16-game regular season or with an 18-game schedule.

___

AP Pro Football Writer Barry Wilner contributed to this report.

(Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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  hpygolkyone wrote...

  Huh?...........

  March 19, 2013 3:48 pm

  How is pushing your own defensive front line player (who is obviously engaged with the offensive front line player) an unnecessary roughness penalty?

  Only my opinion.......but if they are to give it any penalty at all, make it 5 yards instead of an AUTOMATIC first down penalty.

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  dadling wrote...

  The No Fun League is here !

  March 20, 2013 10:25 am

  In their unbridled attempt at Political Correctness, the NFL is just about ready to turn the league into the pansy touch football league...not only will they end up destroying the game, but, their own business as well...soon the millions they bring in , will be hundreds...as people stop going to the games.....too bad!!

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  Rayvensdad wrote...

  What you are seeing...

  March 20, 2013 10:42 am

  Is the dismantling of the sport so many in this country have come to love. These idiots in charge are reacting in such a knee jerking way that they are going to slowly ruin this game.

  Player protection is important, but LET US NOT FORGET WHY THIS GAME IS LOVED... for the high impact, high destruction in which is created. What do you think would happen to Nascar if they gave them a speed limit of 75 mph, as to lessen the chance for crashes and fatalities?

  This is just another example of reactionary idiots who are more concerned with the lawsuits pending then actual real practicality and the players involved. Thanks, NFL... I guess you have no problem watching your product get less and less interesting.

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  soo purletiv wrote...

  More changes in the works

  March 20, 2013 3:45 pm

  I hear by 2015 they are eliminating the kick off and punt returns. The ball will be placed wherever the receiving team catches it, with no chance of any return.

  By 2017 the league is set to adopt a speed limit for all players. Any player, offense or defense who breaks the limit will be penalised 2 yards for every yard they ran above the limit set. The rules committee is working on an appropriate limit as we post. The officials will all be carrying lap tops and laser guns to calculate the yards differential for both teams.

  And you all thought this helmet rule was nuts. Wait till 2020...

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  Derrol_o wrote...

  Sad day for football fans

  March 20, 2013 7:32 pm

  One more giant step towards systematically ruining the game. As if it wasn't bad enough already.

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