The Whitecaps are one win away from capturing the MLS Cup after starting the year “making plain that they needed a new owner” and a “new stadium,” according to Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver PROVINCE. When the team informed the public that ownership was “looking to move on, to hand the keys over to a new investment group” last December, the response was “understandably flat.” Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster “just had to come to work every day with a positive outlook.” The fans were “waiting to be impressed, and has this season ever impressed them.” The “next steps” with the fans is to “keep delivering for them. Keep building the relationship.” Johnston: “Of course, the other next steps for the team are still up in the air. They do need new investment. They need plans for a new stadium, and in the interim, they need a new lease for B.C. Place. There isn’t one yet for next season. That’s a big concern for Schuster.” Sources suggested that there was a “prospective investor in attendance” for the LAFC game. Schuster “didn’t deny that there was someone” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 12/4).
A BIG YEAR: THE ATHLETIC’s Tenorio & Kloke noted Saturday marks Vancouver’s first MLS Cup appearance, and it has been a “historic year in nearly every respect.” It has all happened with the team “up for sale and, potentially soon, homeless.” The Whitecaps’ lease with BC Place is up at the end of 2025. The team and British Columbia have “held some talks about a new lease,” but MLS commissioner Don Garber has “not minced words that the arrangement as it currently stands is a non-starter for the team and the league.” If the status quo remains, the “reality is that the city of Vancouver … could lose its team to a relocation effort.” That impact of relocation -- albeit a scenario that “all parties say is not the aim” -- would be “substantial” for the region. Officials from the province “insist they are working to ensure that the team stays.” British Columbia Minister of Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon said, “We are in discussions with the Whitecaps both about their agreement that they have in place currently ... as well as the opportunity to look at a new stadium.” Tenorio & Kloke noted the Whitecaps’ on-field success and “resonance in their home market, however, hasn’t had meaningful influence on the business.” They rank “near the bottom of MLS in revenue, including sponsorships and gameday intake.” The team’s ownership group said that the “goal” was to “find an investor that would inject capital into the team while also keeping it in Vancouver.” Sources said that the stadium lease and the “lack of certainty around a deal -- both in the short term for BC Place and the long-term with a new stadium -- has clouded that possibility” (THE ATHLETIC, 12/4).
