oncerned that the country's most watched sporting event, the Super Bowl, would be an inviting target for terrorists, the federal government and the National Football League are planning extraordinary measures to protect the game and its site.

The Office of Homeland Security decided this week to award special security status to the Super Bowl, which will be played Feb. 3 at the Louisiana Superdome in New Orleans. That means the Secret Service will coordinate security for the event and unusual resources will be devoted to assuring the safety of players and spectators. The only other sporting event to be designated for such heightened security is the Winter Olympics, to be held in February in Salt Lake City.

Among the precautions likely to be used in New Orleans are fighter jets and military attack helicopters to patrol the skies, the restriction of airspace above the Superdome, and SWAT teams and National Guard troops patrolling outside and inside the stadium, according to two N.F.L. owners.

Another measure under consideration is the use of portable surface-to- air missiles, which could be placed out of sight on rooftops not far from the Superdome to shoot down an airplane that was taking aim at the stadium, the owners said.

"Security at this Super Bowl will be like no other," Jim Mackin, a spokesman for the Secret Service, said yesterday. "I cannot comment on any specifics, but most of the measures we deploy, fans will not see. But they can be assured there will be a seamless, secure environment."

Since the terrorist attacks on Sept. 11, security has been heightened at major sporting events. Military jets patrolled the skies near N.F.L. stadiums in the weeks after the attacks, and fans have been searched as they enter baseball parks and football stadiums.

Snipers were visible on the roof of Yankee Stadium during the World Series, and cars were searched extensively as they entered the vicinity of the stadium. Military jets were in the skies and National Guard troops, who were not in uniform, patrolled the area, a Major League Baseball official said yesterday.

N.F.L. officials said that security at Super Bowl XXXVI would be even more extensive. Dozens, and perhaps hundreds, of Secret Service agents will be present. The number of state and local police officers at the game, which usually numbers at least several hundred, is expected to be at least twice that number.

Mr. Mackin said that security at the game would be similar to "when we secure an event for the president."

Milt Ahlerich, a former F.B.I. agent who is senior director of security for the N.F.L., said the federal government "has not ruled out any possibility" on how to make the game secure.

Paul Tagliabue, the N.F.L. commissioner, said recently, "I'm confident the Super Bowl will be the safest place to be in all of America."

Gov. Mike Foster of Louisiana, a Republican, said that President Bush had assured him two weeks ago that the newly created Office of Homeland Security would designate the game for special security status. The state had asked for the designation, and the Bush administration formally approved it on Monday.

Secret Service officials have had a number of meetings with Louisiana state officials and N.F.L. security representatives over recent weeks and months, said Mr. Ahlerich and Marsanne Golsby, a spokeswoman for Governor Foster.

"There are some very interesting things being discussed, but I cannot get into specifics," Ms. Golsby said when she was asked to confirm what the N.F.L. owners had said about the security arrangements. "One of the reasons we wanted the special security status designation was that security would be coordinated at the highest levels by people of great expertise."

During the Persian Gulf war a decade ago, security was tight at the Super Bowl in Tampa, Fla. SWAT teams were stationed around the stadium, and fans entering the game had their bags searched.

This year's contest will have extraordinary security preparations, Mr. Ahlerich said. "It's very detailed," he said. "There is a substantial effort above what we've had in past years."

The obvious concern is that terrorists might exploit the high visibility of the game and attempt to attack the Superdome, an enclosed stadium that will be packed with more than 65,000 people. The game is usually watched by hundreds of millions of people worldwide on television.

"The Super Bowl is obviously a target," said Dan Rooney, the Pittsburgh Steelers' owner. "But we will see extremely thorough security. We want our fans and players to feel secure, and they will be."

Mr. Ahlerich has discussed with his counterparts in Major League Baseball what they did to improve security at the World Series. He also sent a member of his staff to observe the precautions used during the Series.

The events of Sept. 11 have security planners considering strategies for sporting events that were unthinkable previously.

The use of portable antiaircraft missiles to protect a large, immovable target like a stadium is not unreasonable, several military experts said.

"It can be as simple as Army guys in Ninja suits, lurking on tall buildings with their Stingers, patrolling the skies," said John Pike, a defense analyst and director of GlobalSecurity.com, a military and intelligence policy group.

Such missiles could easily destroy smaller aircraft like a single-engine Cessna or a helicopter, several military experts said, but they might not deter a wide-body commercial jet whose pilots were on a suicide mission.

"If something that big is screaming down at 300 to 400 miles an hour, it is difficult to hit," said Michael Vickers, a former officer in the Army Special Forces and the Central Intelligence Agency. Mr. Vickers is now director of strategic studies at the Center for Strategic and Budgetary Assessments in Washington. "That's a risk. But over all, using Stingers in that situation is a smart idea."

Mr. Pike said that larger, stationary and more powerful Stinger platforms and antiaircraft batteries could take out larger planes, but "they would be stationed in the streets and stick out like a sore thumb."

Such obvious sights are something government and N.F.L. officials hope to avoid. Mr. Ahlerich said fans would see some security measures, but that others would not be visible.

Ms. Golsby, the spokeswoman for Governor Foster, said that while planners want a safe environment at the game, they also do not want the Super Bowl "to look like an armed camp."