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New Orleans' Super Bowl victory over Indianapolis on Sunday broke a 27-year-old TV ratings record set by the comedy series M*A*S*H, CBS executives said yesterday. The network said the Saints' 31-17 victory beat the record set in 1983 by the M*A*S*H, series finale, also broadcast by CBS. Sunday's game in Miami was seen by 106.5 million viewers, the network said. The last M*A*S*H, episode drew in just under 106 million viewers. Super Bowl XLIV was the first NFL championship game to crack the 100-million viewer mark.

Last season's game, when Pittsburgh defeated Arizona in a game that went down to the wire, was seen by 98.7 million viewers and was the previous record for a Super Bowl.

The future is now

Commissioner Roger Goodell said he believes that negotiations will lead to a new deal before March 2011, when the collective-bargaining agreement expires. But with the owners claiming they are losing millions and the players arguing that teams are making money by the fistful, a common ground will be difficult to find. Free agency begins March 5. The more critical date might be March 5 of next year, when, if no new deal has been struck, owners could lock out the players.

The morning after. Clearly exhausted from a late night of post-Super Bowl celebrations, Sean Payton leaned on a podium yesterday morning, clutching the Vince Lombardi Trophy in his right hand.

"You can't get enough of this," the Saints' coach said at a news conference at the Fort Lauderdale convention center. "This thing lay in my bed next to me last night, rolled over it a couple times. I probably drooled on it. But man, there's nothing like it." Certainly, the Saints never experienced anything like it. "I had to wake up this morning and turn to my wife and say, 'Did yesterday really happen?' " quarterback Drew Brees said. "We're going to enjoy this for a while.

I think New Orleans is enjoying it right this second, still."

Noteworthy. The Cleveland Browns released wide receiver Donté Stallworth, who was suspended for the 2009 season by Goodell after he pleaded guilty to killing a pedestrian while driving drunk in Florida. He spent 24 days in jail. Stallworth, who played for the Eagles in 2006, was reinstated by the NFL yesterday and can be signed by any team. . . . The New York Giants were awarded offensive tackle Herb Taylor off waivers from Denver. . . . The Raiders hired longtime NFL defensive coordinator Clancy Pendergast as an assistant but did not say what role the former defensive coordinator of the Kansas City Chiefs would play in Oakland.