Major League Soccer Philadelphia 2010

Infobox Football club
clubname = MLS Philadelphia 2010


fullname =
nickname = Zolos
motto =
shortname =
founded = 2008
dissolved =
ground = Chester Stadium
Chester, PA
capacity =
chrtitle = Owners
chairman = Keystone Sports & Entertainment, LLC
ceo =
mgrtitle =
manager =
league =
season =
position =
pattern_la1 = _whiteshoulders
pattern_b1 = _unknown
pattern_ra1 = _whiteshoulders
leftarm1 = ffffff
body1 = ffffff
rightarm1 = ffffff
shorts1 = FFFFFF
socks1 = ffffff
pattern_la2 = _shouldersonwhite
pattern_b2 = _unknown
pattern_ra2 = _shouldersonwhite
leftarm2 = ffffff
body2 = ffffff
rightarm2 = fffffff
shorts2 = ffffff
socks2 = FFFFFF
firstgame =
largestwin =
worstdefeat =
topscorer =
fansgroup = Sons of Ben
honours =
American = true
Major League Soccer (MLS) has plans to expand with a new professional soccer club in the Philadelphia suburb of Chester, Pennsylvania beginning with the 2010 season. The as-yet unnamed team will play its home games at Chester Stadium.

MLS comes to Philadelphia

MLS had been interested in a Philadelphia franchise for several years, with many promises of a team by Commissioner Don Garber, as evidenced by his quote from "The Philadelphia Inquirer" saying, "It's not a matter of if, but when Philadelphia gets a team." [cite web |title=Philly's in play for an MLS team |work=The Philadelphia Inquirer/ FindArticles.com |url=http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_kmtpi/is_200601/ai_n16005465 |accessdate=October 24 |accessyear=2007]

Initially, MLS was interested in a site in the borough of Bristol, Pennsylvania, approximately convert|23|mi|km north of Philadelphia. [cite web |title=MLS fishing along the Delaware |work=Philly Burbs |url=http://www.phillyburbs.com/pb-dyn/news/76-07292005-520748.html |accessdate=October 24 |accessyear=2007] Those plans never came to fruition. Later, Rowan University provided details for a soccer stadium near its campus in Glassboro, New Jersey. However, funding from the state of New Jersey fell through in 2006.

Later in 2006, a group of investors led by Rob Buccini, Jay Sugarman, and James Nevels initiated the planning for a soccer stadium in the city of Chester after the funding for the Rowan project failed to pass the New Jersey legislature. After many months of negotiations, Delaware County politicians announced their approval of funding for the stadium in October 2007. [cite web |title=Delaware County's Field of Dreams |work=DelcoTimes.com |url=http://www.delcotimes.com/WebApp/appmanager/JRC/Daily;jsessionid=GnThHpQC15BTT1f4rF4K4tWwJpqZ5FLvv01qs2hddh4yp2GbJrLT!772848949?_nfpb=true&_pageLabel=pg_article&r21.pgpath=%2FDCT%2FHome&r21.content=%2FDCT%2FHome%2FContentTab_Feature_785405 |accessdate=October 24 |accessyear=2007]

On January 31, 2008, Pennsylvania governor Ed Rendell announced a $47 million package to help finance the construction of a stadium in the city of Chester, with an additional $7 million towards a surrounding project comprised of townhouses, apartments, office space, convention center, retail space, and a parking garage. [cite web |title=Major hurdle cleared for Philly expansion |work=MLSnet.com |url=http://www.mlsnet.com//news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080131&content_id=137294&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp |accessdate=January 31 |accessyear=2008]

At a press conference held on February 28, 2008, Commissioner Don Garber formally announced the city of Philadelphia as its sixteenth team, with its inaugural season in 2010. [cite web |url=http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080228&content_id=140965&vkey=pr_mls&fext=.jsp |title=MLS awards Philadelphia 2010 expansion team |date=2008-02-28 |accessdate=2008-02-28] A team name and other details have yet to be announced.

Ownership

The Philadelphia MLS team is owned by Keystone Sports & Entertainment, LLC, a group of investors led by Christopher and Robert Buccini, co-founders of the Buccini/Pollin Group; Jay Sugarman, chief executive of iStar Financial; James Nevels, a former chairman of the Philadelphia School Reform Commission; William Doran, a Philadelphia lawyer; and Nick Sakiewicz, an MLS veteran formerly employed with Red Bull New York and the defunct Tampa Bay Mutiny. [cite web |title=City of Brotherly Love embraces MLS |work=FoxSports.com |url=http://msn.foxsports.com/soccer/story/7851546/City-of-Brotherly-Love-embraces-MLS |accessdate=March 1 |accessyear=2008]

In May 2008, Keystone Sports & Entertainment, LLC hired Rob Smith as the group's Director of Operations and Dave Debusschere as the Chief Financial Officer. Rob Smith, a native of Coatesville in the greater Philadelphia area, is a former marketing director with the Nike Soccer Sports Marketing Group and the current president of FC Delco. Dave Debusschere, a Philadelphia-area native and Saint Joseph's University alumnus, is a former auditor and advisor with PricewaterhouseCoopers LLP and a former Assistant Vice President at Philadelphia Insurance Companies. [ [http://www.mlsphilly2010.com/press_rel_cfo_operations.html FC Delco president and former Nike Soccer consultant join Philadelphia MLS 2010] ]

Fan involvement in franchise development

For more than a year, a fan-based, grassroots group known as the Sons of Ben had petitioned MLS to expand into the Philadelphia market. The Sons of Ben were included in the expansion press conference, singing their anthem, "I'm Looking Over a Four Leaf Clover", and closing the event by presenting scarves to the ownership group. [cite web |url=http://web.mlsnet.com/news/mls_news.jsp?ymd=20080229&content_id=141210&vkey=news_mls&fext=.jsp |title=Sons of Ben rejoice in Philly expansion |date=2008-02-29 |accessdate=2008-03-05]

Team name

The Philadelphia Major League Soccer team name has yet to be determined. However, it has been given the nickname of "Zolos" by the Sons of Ben, originating at a "Meet the Owners" event held two days before the official MLS press conference in Chester. The fan club wore name tags with handwritten numbers intended to read 2010, that were mistakenly interpreted as "zolo" by team co-owner Nick Sakiewicz. This led to the Philadelphia MLS team being referred to as the "Zolos" in a series of inside jokes by the Sons of Ben. [cite web |url=http://www.philadelphiaweekly.com/articles/16620/cover-story |title=The Sons Also Rise |date=2008-03-14 |accessdate=2008-03-14] Currently, some of the most popular potential inclusions in the team name include "Athletic" and "Independence". [cite web |url=http://www.phillysoccer.com/PhillySoccer/uploads/mlsphilly.ppt |title=Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Franchise Research and Voice of the Fan |date=2008-04-24 |accessdate=2008-04-24]

External links

* [http://www.mlsphilly2010.com/ Major League Soccer Philadelphia 2010]
* [http://www.phillysoccer.com/ Philly Soccer]
* [http://www.sonsofben.com/ Sons of Ben]

References