It is generally accepted that the lifetimes of the localized plasmonic excitations are inherently controlled by the type of the metals and the shape of the nanoparticles. However, extended plasmonic lifetimes and enhanced near-fields in nanoparticle arrays can be achieved as a result of collective excitation of plasmons. In this article, we demonstrate significantly longer plasmon lifetimes and stronger near-field enhancements by embedding the nanoantenna arrays into the substrate. Our approach offers a more homogeneous dielectric background allowing stronger diffractive couplings among plasmonic particles leading to strong suppression of the radiative damping. We observe near-field enhancements well beyond than those achievable with isolated nanoparticles. Enhanced fields obtained in these structures could be attractive for biosensing and non-linear photonics applications. (C) 2010 Optical Society of America