A statement from MLS called the totality of Commissioner Don Garber’s talks last week about the future of the Whitecaps “constructive,” according to Patrick Johnston of the Vancouver PROVINCE. The statement noted that along with Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim and Premier David Eby, Garber met with Deputy Tourism Minister Silas Brownsey and PavCo President & CEO Rehana Din. A source confirmed that talks during Wednesday’s meeting between Garber and Eby “were positive.” The meeting was arranged by the Whitecaps themselves. With Garber in town for the FIFA Congress, it “made sense for him to meet with Eby and other key stakeholders.” For the Whitecaps to stay in town, a “few things need to happen.” First, Garber is coming back in a couple weeks and it is expected that meeting will “go into detail on what the Caps and the league think is possible at B.C. Place, compared to how PavCo and the government have been doing things, and whether a deal to allow the Whitecaps to manage the stadium can be struck.” The team and the league “without a doubt” would like to secure a stadium naming rights deal. More comprehensive food and beverage sponsorships “would also be a target.” If a deal to manage the stadium is struck, that would “buy the Whitecaps time to build a stadium of their own” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 5/1).
RAMIFICATIONS DOWN THE LINE: In Vancouver, Tom Mayenknecht wrote if the Whitecaps are relocated, the “biggest loser could very well be Major League Soccer itself.” It would be losing one of the three franchises that “give MLS a foothold in Canada, accounting for 10 per cent of the league.” It would lose the leading special event sport hub in Canada and “arguably the best soccer market in the country.” Mayenknecht: “I believe MLS should do whatever it can to give the requisite time for a win-win outcome: the continuation of the Whitecaps and the Vancouver Rise on the west coast of Canada” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 5/1). THE ATHLETIC’s Kloke & Bogert write if the Whitecaps left, the “ramifications stretch well beyond MLS.” Vancouver’s reputation as a sports city would “continue to take a hit.” Should the Whitecaps head to Las Vegas or any other U.S. suitor, we “might not see the negative impact in Canada’s player pool right away. But years down the line, we almost surely would.” Kloke & Bogert suggest, “Perhaps the Whitecaps leaving the city would force the CPL to invest more heavily in the Vancouver area” (THE ATHLETIC, 5/4).
