14 December 2007
MLS Expansion: Philly Still Lacking Funds
Posted by Drew Epperley under: MLS; MLS Philly; News and Rumors; expansion talk .
A note that may make people in the Gateway city smile, the expansion hopes for the city of Philadelphia are still in limbo as the potential soccer stadium is lacking state funding. State legislature wrapped up meetings this week without approving funds for the stadium.
With a decision on the next MLS expansion site expected no later then the end of next month, time is running short for any sort of deal to take place, however the Senate Majority Leader said that an agreement might be reaching over the break or they might be able to find money elsewhere in the budget.
MLS has made it clear that without stadium funding, Philly will not get a team for the next round of expansion with Seattle in 2009. Though I wouldn’t punch the panic button just yet if I were in Philly, deals like this always seem to get finalized in the final moments in the very last days that they can happen.
But like I said with news like this St. Louis soccer hopefuls better be smiling about this news. Every little set-back for Philly is a step forward for them. I still believe that if Philly can’t get the stadium funding right away that the league needs to go ahead and award St. Louis the expansion club so they can actually get started on their stadium. They have the backings and the funding for it and just need the MLS’s approval to go ahead and start construction.
As for now it looks like people in Philly could be waiting around for the expansion round in 2010 for the MLS, which makes more sense to me since their stadium wasn’t even going to be finished by 2010 (if I remember correctly, it may have been 2011).
