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.

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. Funding arrangements for the stadium would be explained at the news conference, he added.

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 past 15 years from a primarily commuter school to a more traditional liberal-arts college, and has added an engineering school.

Cardona said other development plans would be announced as part of the soccer stadium deal.

"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, has been playing since 1996. A team in South Jersey would give the league access to the Philadelphia media market.

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 is to relocate to a new stadium in Harrison in 2008.