The MetroStars' new stadium is still nothing more than a dream and an industrial site in Harrison. But the team could come a step closer to putting a shovel in the ground next week, as the town council votes on a financing package for the long-awaited project.

The stadium is part of the 275-acre redevelopment of the Passaic River waterfront in Harrison, which has been in the works since 1997.

"We wanted the stadium in Harrison," mayor Raymond McDonough said before the MetroStars' match on Saturday. "Harrison has always had a rich tradition in soccer."

The estimated cost of the stadium is $80 million, with Anschutz Entertainment Group kicking in $30 million and the remainder being financed through bonds. Advance Realty Group, the developer responsible for the $300 million, 110-acre plot that includes the MetroStars' stadium and parking deck, plus residential and office space, will offer Harrison payment in lieu of property taxes (pilot) to repay the bonds.

Peter Higgins III, chairman of the Harrison Redevelopment Agency, plans to formally present the pilot financing package to McDonough and the Harrison town council on July 1. It will also have to be approved by the Hudson County Improvement Authority and Harrison's Board of Chosen Freeholders.

"(The stadium) provides an impetus to the redevelopment project," said Higgins, who insisted that the public-private partnership did not include a tax increase. "This is something that will get the other developers moving more quickly. If anything, we're ahead of schedule because of the stadium."

The stadium, which will be designed by Rosetti - the architects behind the new soccer-specific Home Depot Center in Carson, Calif. - will have 25,000 fixed seats and the capacity to add 7,000 to 10,000 more.

MetroStars general manager Nick Sakiewicz hopes to break ground in March or April of 2004, and to open the new stadium in time for the 2006 MLS season.

The town of Harrison will own the stadium, leasing it long-term to AEG, which owns the MetroStars and five other MLS teams, which will operate it.

Higgins said that other agreements, including the construction plan between Advance and AEG and the lease between Harrison and AEG, are "pretty much finalized," and should be completed and approved by the end of the summer.

"The major hurdle we've cleared is funding for the stadium," Sakiewicz said. "We still need it approved. We still need the bonds to be sold at market. But we're close."