After twelve years Professional soccer returns to Philadelphia

Twelve years after the inaugural season of Major League Soccer, Philadelphia was given its chance. Philadelphia would enter the league as an expansion team for the 2010 season. Soccer fans across the Delaware Valley would finally have their own professional soccer team. It had been 28 years since the last pro soccer team in Philly; the North American Soccer League’s Philadelphia Fury folded in 1980.

February 28th, 2008 (announcement day) was a sigh of relief, in many ways. It wasn’t easy getting the team. It took years of petitions and letters to state representatives for the state to support a professional soccer team. But, the wait was over; what ensued was an enormous amount of buzz in the soccer-unfriendly sports media. Governor Ed Rendell, Mayor Michael Nutter, and Comcast-Spectacor gave their full support to the team. The wheels, which were already in motion, were gaining more and more speed.