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South Jersey to get 1st pro franchise.

Rowan University says MLS is planning to put team in Glassboro

BY GEOFF MULVIHILL

ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

Major League Soccer is planning to put a team in Glassboro, a relatively far-flung Philadelphia suburb, according to officials at Rowan University.

Rowan spokesman Joe Cardona said the details would be made public at a news conference with MLS officials on Monday.

Cardona said the name of the team, its owners and whether it would be an expansion team or a relocated one remain to be worked out. A spokesman for Major League Soccer did not immediately return a message from The Associated Press seeking comment.

Cardona said a stadium would be built in time for the team to begin play in 2009. Rowan's soccer teams and possibly other sports teams would also use the stadium, Cardona said.

He said funding arrangements for the stadium would be explained at the news conference on Monday.

The team would be the first major-league sports franchise to locate in southern New Jersey. The Philadelphia 76ers flirted with a move across the Delaware River in the 1990s. Glassboro, a town of about 20,000 people, is located 15 miles southeast of Philadelphia.

For Rowan, a state university once known as Glassboro State College, the stadium would be part of a plan to develop its West Campus. The university of nearly 10,000 students has transformed over the last 15 years from mostly a commuter school to a more traditional liberal-arts college and has added an engineering school.

The university is scheduled to break ground next month on a new technology park in the West Campus and has long considered moving its athletic fields there.

Cardona said other development plans would be announced as part of the soccer stadium deal, but he would not specify what they are.

"It will be of interest to people across the country because it's a new model for state colleges and how they have to pursue public-private ventures," Cardona said.

The MLS, which currently has 12 teams across the country, has been playing since 1996. A team in South Jersey would give the league access to the lucrative Philadelphia media market, the fourth-largest in the country.

There is already an MLS team in northern New Jersey and it has been in the news lately. The MetroStars, who play in the Meadowlands complex, were sold earlier this month to Red Bull, the maker of the energy drink. Red Bull announced it would change the team's name to Red Bull New York, a move that has upset some Garden State politicians.

The team (New York Red Bulls) is to relocate to a new stadium in Harrison in 2008.

http://www.dailyrecord.com/apps/pbcs...ES01/603160339

Second Part of this Story

South Jersey to Join MLS?

Possible expansion team based out of Rowan Could Be Announced Monday

Jason Endres · March 17, 2006

EAST RUTHERFORD, NJ (MNN) - NyNjsoccer has confirmed from a Rowan University official that Major League Soccer and Rowan University are in serious talks about having a MLS franchise play at the Glassboro, New Jersey four year university.

The official also stated that MLS and Rowan University will hold a press conference Monday afternoon to officially announce the franchise. At this time, it is unknown whether the club will be named after Philadelphia or South Jersey.

NyNjsoccer will bring you further details when they become available.

http://nynj.matchnight.com/metroinde...TICLE&show=343