A new report says Major League Soccer is looking to move the Whitecaps out of Vancouver.
The Athletic published a story Monday saying the league has told owners around the league that it is exploring relocating the team, with Las Vegas being the top candidate for the new market.
The story did not include a timeline for the move.
Dan Courtemanche, an MLS spokesperson, told CBC News in a statement that the league’s preference was for a path that allowed the Whitecaps to grow and succeed in Vancouver.
“At the same time, we have a responsibility to ensure the long-term health of the league and its clubs, and we will evaluate all options, including interest that has been expressed in the club from other markets and investor groups,” he wrote.
The debate around a new stadium for the Vancouver Whitecaps is back in the spotlight this week, following comments from the MLS commissioner about the need for a more ‘viable stadium’ for the team. Sohrab Sandhu reports.
Courtemanche said in the statement that “stadium economics, scheduling restrictions, and a lack of government and corporate support” have meant the Whitecaps faced a difficult path forward in Vancouver.
Vancouver’s current ownership group — including Greg Kerfoot, Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash — announced the team was up for sale in December 2024 and repeatedly said the priority was keeping the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
The asking price was not publicly released.
A Whitecaps spokesperson echoed the MLS statement, saying that revenue limitations meant that it has been difficult to attract buyers that were committed to keeping the team in Vancouver.
“Over the past 16 months, we have had serious conversations with more than 100 parties, and to date, no viable offer has emerged that would keep the club here,” the spokesperson said in a statement to CBC News.
“It remains the strong preference of this ownership group to find a solution in Vancouver. If there is a local ownership group with the vision and resources to chart a path forward, we urge them to come forward.”
Radio West12:12Vancouver Whitecaps’ ownership and arena situation is up in the air
Peter Schaad is a former Whitecaps broadcaster and current soccer podcaster. He’s been following the situation with the Whitecaps since the team was put up for sale in December 2024.
MLS’s latest expansion club, San Diego FC — which began play last season — reportedly paid a $500 million US fee to join the league.
Toronto paid a $10 million expansion fee when it became part of the league in 2007. Vancouver reportedly paid $40 million to join four years later.
Las Vegas is currently home to the Las Vegas Lights, a USL Championship team owned by former Toronto Blue Jay Jose Bautista.
Save the Caps movement
The report comes days after thousands of Whitecaps fans used signs and chants to express their support for the club.
A sold-out crowd of 27,589 people watched the ‘Caps down the Colorado Rapids 3-1 on Saturday, packing B.C. Place for Vancouver’s final home game ahead of this summer’s FIFA World Cup.
Hundreds of people marched to the stadium behind a giant banner reading “Save the Caps.”
Once inside, more than 2,000 fans held signs with the same “Save the Caps” message as players walked out onto the field.
The paper signs were placed by Vancouver’s supporters groups before the game.
Others brought their own visual messages of support, including a giant banner reading “We will fight for our club and we will win” next to an image of a fist.
With the Vancouver Whitecaps for sale and rumours swirling about a buyer snapping up the MLS club and possibly moving it to a more profitable U.S. city, the club’s longest running supporters group — the Vancouver Southsiders — want it shouted from the rooftops that they are not OK with the team leaving. As the CBC’s Janella Hamilton reports, the Save The Caps campaign wants fans’ voices to be heard amid any deal-making.
Chants of “Save the Caps” also rang out through the stadium after Ema Lake sang the American and Canadian national anthems.
“We hear what’s going on, but at the end of the day, that’s not in our control,” striker Brian White said after the game. “We love playing in Vancouver, we love the fans. But all that stuff is up to powers that are out of our control.”
The players are all focused on winning, not what’s happening behind the scenes, said defender Tristan Blackmon.
“We’ve known for a little while now that the team is up for sale. But our job at the end of the day is to get results on the pitch,” he said. “We don’t have that much of an influence on what goes on big picture in terms of where the team goes, if it stays. All we can do as players is put on good performances like we did tonight.
“The most we can do as players is try to represent the community and everybody who comes out here really well. So we’re going to keep on trying to do that.”
The ‘Caps currently sit second in the MLS standings with an 8-1-0 record and are coming off their most successful season in the league.
Last year, Vancouver was crowned Western Conference champions before falling to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami in the championship game.
Despite the on-field success, the Whitecaps still sat at the bottom of the league in team revenue, trailing clubs in the middle of the standings by $40 million US, CEO Axel Schuster said in February.
“We are really concerned that, after such a successful season, the gap is even becoming bigger, that this at some point will not be manageable for us anymore,” he said.
The Vancouver Whitecaps are one step closer to getting their own stadium. The team and the city have agreed to negotiate terms for a new stadium and entertainment district at Hastings Park. But as Jon Hernandez reports, there’s no guarantee the project will ever get built. Municipal affairs reporter Justin McElroy follows with analysis.
Schuster and MLS commissioner Don Garber said late last year that the club’s lease at B.C. Place stadium was not sustainable because of limited scheduling flexibility and restricted revenue from food and beverage sales.
The team signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Vancouver in December over exploring the viability of building a new stadium on the city’s eastern edge, then agreed to a new, one-year deal with the Crown corporation that owns and operates B.C. Place in February.
Schuster said at the time that the new lease did not solve the Whitecaps’ long-term financial viability issues.
“To be clear, I think it needs 25 to 30 more of these little steps, or it needs a few big steps to really get in safe water and to say ‘OK, now this club gets into more of the area of financial stability and viability,'” he said.
Originally in NASL
Originally a North American Soccer League (NASL) team, the Whitecaps have been part of Vancouver’s sports fabric since 1974.
The club won the NASL title in 1979 and, when players returned to Vancouver, about 100,000 people lined Robson Street to cheer them on.
Vancouver sports fans celebrate the Whitecaps’ soccer championship victory with a big parade in 1979.
Kerfoot, a Vancouver entrepreneur, bought the club in 2002 when it was a USL First Division team, and was joined by the rest of the ownership group in 2008 with the intention of making the ‘Caps an MLS team.
The Whitecaps played their first game in the new league in March 2011.
The club has experienced a series of highs and lows since.
It was a crushing defeat for the Vancouver Whitecaps and their supporters as the team fell to Inter Miami in its first ever crack at an MLS championship. CBC’s Jon Hernandez caught up with fans in the aftermath.
Some prominent Canadian national players have come up through the ‘Caps academy system during the current ownership group’s tenure.
Star left-back Alphonso Davies joined the residency program as a teen and broke through in MLS in 2016 at age 15 before the Whitecaps transferred him to German powerhouse Bayern Munich in 2018.
The Whitecaps weathered a scandal in 2019 when allegations emerged that a former coach with both the women’s club team and Canada’s under-20 women’s program had assaulted multiple players.
Bob Birarda was handed a two-year sentence in November 2022 after he pleaded guilty to three counts of sexual assault and one count of sexual touching involving four teens.
FIFA vice-president Victor Montagliani has said moving the Whitecaps would be “a bruise” on the city, especially as Vancouver prepares to host seven World Cup games this summer.
“To lose an MLS club on the back of the World Cup would be a capital crime, in my opinion,” he said at a Vancouver Board of Trade event last June.
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