INDIANAPOLIS – With the Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee deciding not to submit a bid to host Super Bowl XLVIII, New York City is now the clear favorite to host the 2014 game, a source close to the situation said at the NFL Scouting Combine on Friday.

While Tampa and South Florida remain in the running to host, the source said New York is the leading contender. April 1 is the deadline to submit a bid.

On Thursday, Arizona’s six-member host committee announced it would try for a 2015 Super Bowl instead. In a release, committee head Mike Kennedy stated the financial burdens facing the state’s business and political community as the main reason for passing on the 2014 game. Arizona already had lost bids the last two years to host Super Bowls in 2012 and 2013.

Super Bowls typically are awarded at the league’s spring meeting; this year it is in Dallas from May 24-26. Dallas hosts the Super Bowl in 2011, Indianapolis in 2012 and New Orleans in 2013.

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