The Whitecaps said that talks on keeping the club in Vancouver are “continuing following another meeting of key stakeholders,” according to the CP. The Whitecaps on Thursday said that club and MLS officials “recently met with government representatives and leaders from the Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh Nations to discuss the team’s future in Vancouver.” Canadian Housing Minister Gregor Robertson in a statement said that participants “reaffirmed their commitment to keeping the Whitecaps in Vancouver.” Robertson added that the group “reviewed opportunities to improve revenue generation, discussed potential stadium sites and examined ways to engage prospective ownership groups.” The Whitecaps said that “attracting a credible local ownership group remains a priority.” The club’s ownership group has said that “more than 100 potential buyers have been contacted, but no local ownership solution has emerged under the current business model” (CP, 6/11).
LIGHT A PATH: In Vancouver, Patrick Johnston wrote as “hopeful and bright” as the statements released by the two sides are, the “cold reality remains that there is no firm pathway laid out on how to create a new financial environment for the Whitecaps.” Sources said that nearly three dozen groups have “taken a long and serious look at the team” and “none has seen enough for them to make a bid.” It is understood that there are a couple of groups “who remain in the area, who might make a new bid if the short-term finances of the Whitecaps are raised to a level that is deemed acceptable.” Johnston: “What is clear from talking to people with knowledge of the talks is that both sides now understand what’s at stake. The province knows the team’s numbers, and the team knows the province’s numbers.” Johnston wrote the Whitecaps “need to sell more sponsorships.” That is what MLS Commissioner Don Garber was “referencing” last week in Montreal when he “spoke of how much better the corporate environment is in Montreal vs. Vancouver.” The Whitecaps have “about 30 different categories they can sell local sponsorships in.” They have been “hard at work selling those categories this year.” Even after the current season started in February, the team was “announcing new partners, many of them on multi-year deals” (Vancouver PROVINCE, 6/11).
