By: Jonah Lazar, Staff Writer
After over half a century playing in Vancouver, Major League Soccer (MLS) club the Vancouver Whitecaps may be relocated, as potential buyers of the club look towards Las Vegas as a new home for the franchise.
Following the Whitecaps being put on sale in December 2024, a potential buyer of the club has been considering relocating elsewhere to increase revenue. Earlier this month, an American investment group led by billionaire Grant Gustavson formally submitted a bid to purchase the club, with the stated goal of relocating the Whitecaps to Las Vegas.
While this potential relocation unfolds, the community has been rallying to keep the team in Vancouver. The Save The Caps movement was founded by the Vancouver Southsiders as an effort to get fans involved in the battle. This movement has garnered support from not just fans of the team, but also businesses reliant on the traffic that the Whitecaps games bring downtown.
Kevin Kerr, director of events for the Vancouver Southsiders, told The Peak, “This is bigger than just a team leaving.”
“[Some] downtown businesses basically survive on Whitecaps games [ . . . ] So they lose that revenue, their businesses might not be viable.”
— Kevin Kerr, director of events for the Vancouver Southsiders
Over 400 businesses have called on the province to seek solutions to keep the team in Vancouver, following a canvassing campaign conducted by the Save The Caps movement.
The driving force behind this possible relocation is due to the Whitecaps’ stadium revenue. The club currently plays at BC Place, which they lease from PavCo, a corporation of the provincial government. Their current lease with BC Place is not sustainable, according to MLS commissioner Don Garber, because of the division of revenue between the provincial government and the club.
While other MLS clubs are able to sell naming rights of their stadium, advertising rights within their stadium, collect ticket fares, and sell food and beverages, the Vancouver-based club has a contract that requires them to fork over a large amount of the revenue generated from BC Place to the provincial government. The Whitecaps receive just 20% of the food and beverage sales from their matchdays, which is “less than any other team in Major League Soccer,” according to Daily Hive.
Garber also cited scheduling conflicts with BC Place’s other events, such as concerts and BC Lions games as an additional reason for the stadium situation being unsustainable. Sportsnet reported that the Whitecaps were forced to play away from home in the playoffs last year due to BC Place having already booked a motocross event, due to the stadium’s lack of scheduling flexibility.
While the future of the Whitecaps may be up in arms, support for the team is unwavering. “Everyone pretty much wants the team to stay,” said Kerr, “I haven’t met someone that goes to a game that isn’t trying [to get the team to stay to] some effort.” Furthermore, Garber, mayor Ken Sim, and premier David Eby are in continuous conversation about the “the future of the Vancouver Whitecaps,” according to a statement MLS made to The Province, following Eby expressing a committment to keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
This could be the second time that Vancouver loses a major sports team franchise to relocation, following NBA team The Vancouver Grizzlies relocation to Memphis, Tennessee, in 2001.
