They'll strike the hard surface of a sinking national economy, a calamity that has depleted government coffers and turned once-routine bank loans into adventures - and hurt the construction of sports venues across the nation and across the sea.

Nick Sakiewicz, chief executive and operating partner of the yet-unnamed Philadelphia team, scheduled to start play in 2010 as Major League Soccer's 16th club, said the financial crisis had not hurt the stadium project. Work is on schedule and on budget, and monetary commitments from state and local governments appear secure, he said.

At the same time, he said, the owners are "tweaking" plans to build millions of dollars worth of ancillary development that includes housing, stores, office space, and a convention center. Plans for townhouses and apartments may be scaled back, while space for retail and commercial ventures may increase, he said.

Sakiewicz said questions about the future of the collateral projects were best directed to developer Rob Buccini, a team co-owner and the cofounder of the Buccini/Pollin Group. Efforts to reach Buccini were unsuccessful.

"This project makes more sense today than it did six months ago," Sakiewicz said. "It's always been about jobs, about the renovation of a waterfront."

He called the stadium project "almost an economic stimulus package in and of itself," having earlier estimated that more than 2,000 full- and part-time jobs would be created during construction.

But, Sakiewicz said, "I'm not looking at this thing through rose-colored glasses. It's a tough world out there."

The stadium will be built beside the Delaware River near the Commodore Barry Bridge, the anchor of a $500 million development that backers say will help revive impoverished Chester. Preliminary site work and remediation started months ago. At 2:30 p.m. today, Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber will join state officials, local leaders and fans to officially start construction.

Original plans called for substantial housing and commercial development, as outlined in a December 2007 study by Conventions, Sports & Leisure International, a sports consultancy.

By the end of next year, 50 townhouses were to have been built. The next year that would grow to 166 townhouses and 25 apartments. By 2013, the total would reach 186 townhouses and 175 apartments.

Office space would start at 35,000 square feet next year, growing to 220,000 square feet in 2010 and 435,000 by 2013. Retail footage likewise would increase from 11,108 square feet in 2010 to 45,000 by 2013.

"Will that get built? The stadium will. But what about the other stuff?" asked Rick Eckstein, a Villanova University sociologist who studies public funding of sports stadiums.

Eckstein, co-author of Public Dollars, Private Stadiums: The Battle Over Building Sports Stadiums, said that even in good times, luring homebuyers and shoppers to downtrodden Chester would be tough. The sour economy makes it tougher now. And given the precarious state of many lending agencies, the suffering housing market, and consumer cutbacks in personal spending, "Who would fund something like this? . . . If it was 100 percent private financing, it probably wouldn't get built."

Government officials said last week that they would honor their funding commitments to the stadium development.

Gov. Rendell spokesman Chuck Ardo said the state would provide its promised $47 million. And Linda Cartisano, chairwoman of the Delaware County Council, said the county was on track to contribute its $30 million portion, raised through a bond sale that could occur as early as January.

Elsewhere, plans for new sports stadiums are in retreat.

The San Jose Mercury News reported two weeks ago that designs for the new Earthquakes stadium had been scaled back, with luxury boxes and other amenities excised in favor of a smaller venue that would cost $100 million less. Plans for shops, offices and a hotel may take a backseat to the stadium, multimillionaire owner-developer Lew Wolff told the newspaper.

Officials in Santa Clara, Calif., who have spent months discussing a new football stadium for the San Francisco 49ers, have begun using the term "cautious," as two main sources of city funding appear newly questionable, the newspaper said.

In London, plans for 2012 Olympic venues are being pruned. Officials are paring the size of the athletes' village, scheduled to become housing after the games, and are having trouble finding a developer to build a news-media center, which would later become office or industrial space.

It's hard to imagine things could change so quickly. Eight months ago in Chester, Garber set off a raucous celebration when he announced that the Philadelphia area would get a team. The economy wasn't great back then, but it wasn't in free fall, either.

For instance, a key owner-investor, iStar Financial chief executive Jay Sugarman, has seen his company rocked. Moody's Investors Service has cut iStar's debt rating to junk-bond status, and company stock that sold for $32 a year ago now sells for about a dollar.

Sakiewicz said that would not affect the stadium project.

"This is not an iStar investment," he said. "It's a Jay Sugarman investment."

In an odd way, he said, the economic crisis has been a help, making labor costs competitive and driving down prices of construction materials such as steel, aluminum and copper. There has been no drop in interest among fans or businesses, he said.

"Companies haven't stopped marketing," Sakiewicz said. "They're just looking for better deals."

And Major League Soccer, less well-known but also less expensive than the major American sports, is in a position to provide those deals, he said. The team offers access to two desirable demographics - upscale, suburban soccer fans, and the growing Hispanic base.

Sixteen months before its first game, the team has sold half of its 28 corporate suites.

Season-ticket sales have surpassed 5,300, which is 28 percent of stadium capacity. The stadium will seat 18,634, though for big games it can expand to 21,600.

The team plans to announce a second major corporate partnership soon, Sakiewicz said, having earlier signed a multiyear, multimillion-dollar alliance with Crozer-Keystone Health System and Premier Orthopaedic & Sports Medicine Associates.

A name-the-team campaign is scheduled to start next month.

"We're still very excited," Sakiewicz said. "We just keep plugging away."

If You Go

What: Groundbreaking ceremonies for the region's new Major League Soccer stadium.

Where: Stadium construction site, 2501 Seaport Drive, Chester.

When: 2:30 p.m. today.

Limited bleacher seating available on a first-come, first-serve basis. The Sons of Ben supporters club asks people to bring canned food for its second annual "Help Kick Hunger" drive, which benefits Chester's Bernardine Center.