The NFL is even looking for new markets.

"Many more foreign languages," said Berman, who has covered 25 Super Bowls, when asked what the biggest difference in the media coverage between the first and the latest Super Bowls he has attended.

"Many more people, you know, football fans of foreign languages who can speak football. That's changed a lot in the 25 years. People are watching football games in Antarctica and places we never knew existed 25 years ago unless you were good with a geographic map."

That's not news to anyone. The NFL's popularity worldwide has grown — especially in Europe and Asia, where preseason games have been played since the 1980s. Two seasons ago, the first regular-season game outside of the United States was played in Mexico. Next season, the Dolphins are expected to play in the first regular-season game outside of North America.

But it's not that growth that has some experts worried.

Of course, Americans always have the right to click the off button on their remotes. But it's tough to cut back right now — especially for the NFL, which is enjoying the peak of its popularity and its riches.

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• Tickets: This season alone, there was a record blackout lifts for 249 of the 256 NFL regular-season games and the 17,340,879 tickets sold set a record for the regular season.

• Viewers: According to the NFL, more people watched Super Bowl XL (141.4 million viewers) than voted in the 2004 presidential election or went out to celebrate New Year's Eve.

  According to NFL and Nielsen Media Research, the NFL owned 12 of the top-20 most watched programs of the 2006-07 TV season, outdrawing "American Idol," "Dancing With the Stars," "CSI:" and "Grey's Anatomy." The 13 most-watched programs ever are all Super Bowls.

• Video games: Madden NFL '07 was the highest-sold video game of the year with more than 3.9 million units sold for the PlayStation 2 and Xbox 360 combined in 2006.

• Merchandise: The NFL has the most popular merchandise sold among pro sports. According to an ESPN poll, 32 percent of sports fans own league-licensed apparel — double that of second-place Major League Baseball.

And then there's fantasy football, which according to some businesses is beginning to cost companies billions in workers hours.

According to a report by global outplacement consultancy Challenger, Gray and Christmas Inc. in August, the cost to employers for paying unproductive workers logged into fantasy Web sites was estimated as high as $1.1 billion each week of the NFL season.