Last September, negotiations to build a professional soccer stadium at Rowan University collapsed when New Jersey declined to provide aid.
Whether the effort to get public funding for the Pennsylvania project will be any more successful is uncertain.
Two sites along the waterfront are being considered, but officials declined to name them yesterday.
New York City-based Major League Soccer confirmed that it was in negotiations with the group, with "no specific timetable" for a conclusion. The league remains highly interested in locating a franchise in the Philadelphia region.
"Philadelphia has the potential to be a tremendous market for professional soccer," said Dan Courtemanche, senior vice president of marketing and communications for the league.
Investors are asking the City of Chester, Delaware County and Pennsylvania for funding to support the project, said Sen. Dominic Pileggi (R., Delaware). He said he was not sure how much money they were seeking.
"We're talking about what is the appropriate level of participation," he said.
Pileggi described the investor group as "substantial" in its "ability to raise capital."
Pileggi and others who have talked with the investors declined to identify them.
Attempts to include funding for the project in the recent state budget failed, but State Rep. Dwight Evans (D., Phila.), chairman of the House Appropriations Committee, said yesterday that it was still possible that funding could come from the state's capital budget.
"It's still very much alive," Evans said. "I'm supportive of it. I think it would be good for the region. I think it would put Philadelphia in the ball park somewhere down the line to compete for the Olympics."
Pileggi said it was also possible that funding could come from gaming revenue. A stadium for the Pittsburgh Penguins hockey team is in line to receive gaming revenue, he pointed out.
