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World Cup host Vancouver is at risk of losing its Major League Soccer club to another city.
MLS said Monday night it will “evaluate all options” for the Vancouver Whitecaps’ future, including leaving the city. The club was put up for sale 16 months ago by an ownership group that includes former NBA star Steve Nash.
Uncertainty around the team is fueled by limited revenue options and a short-term lease on BC Place Stadium that will host seven World Cup matches in June and July, including Canada’s game against Qatar and Switzerland.
“It’s coming to a head,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday during a meeting with Associated Press sports editors in New York.
Garber called the situation at BC Place unsustainable, citing strict scheduling restrictions by the government entity that owns and operates the building and the inability to add premium seating.
The British Columbia government said Tuesday it is working with the Whitecaps to help the team reduce costs and generate more revenue at BC Place, but will not buy the team to prevent it from moving cities.
Ravi Kahlon, BC’s minister of jobs and economic growth, said the team now uses the stadium free of charge and any break the team received this year could be extended for another year.
The Whitecaps and the provincial government, which owns BC Place through provincial corporation PavCo, signed a one-year lease earlier this year, which annually returns to the club between $1 million and $1.5 million the province earns as a host.
Kahlon, a long-time season ticket holder, says the province has also helped the team generate more revenue from concession sales and advertising, adding that the province is open to exploring other revenue streams.
“If there are some genuine things they need to do to keep the team here, we want to make that happen,” he said.
Garber confirmed reports that Las Vegas could be an option if Vancouver moves, saying a Las Vegas group had submitted an application for an MLS team. He expressed hope that the Whitecaps could find a way to remain in Vancouver and said expansion to Las Vegas could also be a possibility, but no decision had been made. Las Vegas wasn’t necessarily the only city that was talked about.
FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani, a Vancouver native, said last year that losing an MLS club “at the expense of the World Cup would be a capital crime, in my opinion.”
Fans holding signs reading “Save The Caps” protested Saturday at the team’s final home game before the stadium was taken over for the World Cup. The attendance was more than 27,000 people.
In a statement on Monday night, the Whitecaps said they had “serious discussions with over 100 parties and, to date, no viable offer has emerged that could keep the club here.”
“The club has faced well-documented structural challenges around stadium economics, venue access and revenue constraints that have made it difficult to attract buyers committed to keeping the team in Vancouver.”
A franchise fee that cost tens of millions of dollars to enter MLS 15 years ago is probably worth hundreds of millions now.
A team featuring German great Thomas Muller reached the MLS Cup final last year, losing to Lionel Messi and Inter Miami 3-1.
Information from The Associated Press.
