MIKE ARMSTRONG: Coming up, a local builder sees a huge drop in earnings. We hear from the head of a group pushing for big-time soccer in the area. And we'll learn what's at stake in that multimillion dollar deal. Philadelphia Business Today starts now.

MIKE ARMSTRONG: Hello, I'm Mike Armstrong, and welcome to Philadelphia Business Today. Luxury home builder Toll Brothers of Horsham lost $96 million last quarter, its largest loss in 22 years. The company says that's due to declining sales and more than $245 million in write-downs. It's not over yet. Chairman and Chief Executive Robert Toll says there are few glimmers of hope. And that's true on the national level as well. The Commerce Department this morning said new home sales in January fell for the third straight month. Activity is the slowest it's been in 13 years.

A New York appeals court has tackled Comcast for a loss of yards in its legal battle against the NFL. An earlier ruling found that the Philadelphia-based communications giant could keep the league's network on a higher-priced sports tier and not on a general interest cable package. The NFL filed its lawsuit because that decision deprives them of 6 million potential viewers, and it means it can't charge as much for commercials. This means Comcast and the League are headed back to court. And it's not clear now who the odds-makers favor.

We can learn Thursday whether Chester has won a Major League Soccer franchise, and whether a $115 million stadium project will be built there. I've been skeptical of the public funding aspect of this plan. So yesterday I sat down with Nick Sakiewicz, the CEO of the group that's been bidding for that local franchise. I asked him, "Why do professional sports stadiums need public funding?"

NICK SAKIEWICZ: Because just by themselves, they're very difficult buildings to make money in. And I can't speak to football stadiums, baseball stadiums, or basketball stadiums. I can only speak to soccer stadiums, because I know the economics of soccer. And given where our sport is, where our attendances are, and where our economics are, we can't go into a building and rent it, and make a viable business out of it. We need to have the stadium to capture those revenue streams that we need to pay the bills. So - otherwise it would not happen. Tying the stadium to the rest of the development is an important thing socioeconomically, because that's good for a place like Chester. You may have a good argument, building stadiums in seas of parking lots don't make sense. And they may not, because they're limited use. But when they're tied to a $400 million development that creates thousands of jobs and millions of dollars of economic benefit, they make sense.

MIKE ARMSTRONG: But does soccer as a business really make sense? The sport has failed at least once already in the United States. Inquirer reporter Jeff Gammage has written extensively about the Chester project. And I asked him, what has soccer learned in the last 20 years?

I think what's happened to the American game and the American league is that they've learned from past failures. The new breed of owners understand they have to own the stadium. They have to have a soccer-specific stadium where fans will want to go, where they can set their own schedule, and most important, where they can capture the revenues that come from that stadium. In the old days, a team was the third, maybe the second tenant at a big stadium, and it got none of the parking, none of the concessions, t-shirt sales, food, luxury suites - that all went elsewhere. Now that stays with the team. It's a much more viable financial model.

MIKE ARMSTRONG: I'm still not convinced that public funding of professional sports teams makes sense. In Camden, plenty of Minor League Baseball fans never set foot outside of Campbell's Field. But at Wilmington, there's no ignoring the housing and office development that has sprung up along the riverfront near the Blue Rock Stadium. I'm all for helping the city of Chester, and it would be fantastic if a professional soccer team could be a catalyst to add market rate housing, offices, and a supermarket. Count me skeptical. But at the very least, it sounds as if Chester will be gaining a new business, and a piece of the world's most popular sport. That's it for our show today. At The Inquirer, I'm Mike Armstrong, for Philadelphia Business Today.

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