(WSB Radio) -- The only NFL game in America Thursday night was in the Georgia Dome, giving Atlanta's and Georgia's political brass a captive audience to make their pitch.

Bring another Super Bowl to Atlanta.

Gov.-elect Nathan Deal and Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed are teaming up to bring the biggest party in football back to Georgia. They used the nationally televised game between the Atlanta Falcons and Baltimore Ravens to meet with NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell.

But the NFL leader says he likes the idea, but only if Atlanta dumps the Georgia Dome for a new stadium.

"I think this is a great community," Commissioner Goodell told the AJC. "But as I mentioned to the people earlier today, the competition for the Super Bowl is really at an all-time high, in a large part because of the new stadiums.

"The provisions that they have for a new stadium in this great community, I think that' s a pretty powerful force. We have a history of going back to communities when they have those new stadiums."

The last Super Bowl in Atlanta was in 2000. It had an estimated econmoic impact of $292 million, according to the Atlanta Sports Council, the consulting firm McKinsey & Co. and Georgia State University. Adjusted for inflation for 2010, thats more than $375 million. Now, some experts say a Super Bowl brings in $500 million dollars for the host city, but some analysts those figures may be inflated.

Atlanta failed in Super Bowl bids in 2005 and 2009. Some feel the reason was because of the ice storm that hit the city during the 2000 game. Plus, Ravens' linebacker Ray Lewis was charged with murder after two men were killed in Buckhead. Lewis eventually pleaded guilty to obstruction of justice.

"Atlanta is a world-class city that knows how to host world-class events," Atlanta Mayor Kasim Reed said in a statement to the AJC. "We would welcome the opportunity to bring the Super Bowl back to the capital of the Southeast. I look forward to having meaningful discussions with Gov.-elect Deal, Atlanta Falcons owner Arthur Blank and NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell."

But now it may be the 18-year-old Georgia Dome that's holding Atlanta back. The games in 2006 and 2008 were played in new stadiums. The NFL has also put this coming Super Bowl in the $1.2 billion Cowboys Stadium in Dallas. In 2012, the game will be at the new retractable-roof stadium in Indianapolis. Then in 2014 the game goes to the brand-new outdoor stadium at the Meadowlands in New Jersey.

Falcons owner Arthur Blank has been pushing for a new outdoor stadium.  Georgia World Congress Center, which manages the dome, pitched in June adding a retractable roof to the Dome. But Blank said he prefers a new open-air stadium on the same campus as the Georgia Dome.

Information from the AJC was used in this report