Major League Soccer is nearing a deal with representatives to bring professional soccer to the Philadelphia region, according to the Philadelphia Inquirer. “Several sources” tell the paper the talks have progressed past the “if” stage on to “how” and “when.” The team would play at a $115 million stadium built beside the Commodore Barry Bridge in Chester, PA, one of the state’s poorest cities. The project, which will be part of a $500 million shopping and housing complex, was recently awarded $47 million in state funding.
In mid-January, MLS revealed that the race for the league’s 16th franchise was down to either Philadelphia or St. Louis, but Philadelphia became the frontrunner because its investment group was able to gather money together more easily to build a proposed stadium than investors in St. Louis. “It’s definitely Philly,” an unnamed Major League Soccer source told the Inquirer. “It’s the market size, the ownership group. These are wealthy people. They’re going to be strong owners,” he said, adding that St. Louis would become the 17th MLS franchise once it secures financing for a new stadium.
Barring a “cataclysm,” Philadelphia will be the next MLS expansion club, says the Inquirer’s Jeff Gammage, but the official word from MLS spokesman Dan Courtemanche is that the league is “continuing discussions with the potential ownership group to bring a Major League Soccer expansion team to Philadelphia.”