The Major League Soccer (MLS) team Vancouver Whitecaps FC are staying at their digs – the BC Place in British Columbia (Canadian province), Canada – at least for 2026.
‘SPORTSNET’ stated that the Whitecaps head honcho and the Sporting Director Axel Schuster revealed recently that the club has come to a new lease agreement with the Provincial Crown Corporation that owns and operates the stadium.
The Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Vancouver (British Columbia, Canada). The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference.
The 54,500-capacity BC Place is a multipurpose stadium in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. Located at the North Side of False Creek it is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a Crown Corporation of the Province. It serves as the residence of the Vancouver Whitecaps FC.
Vancouver (Canada)-based the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), Owner and Operator of the BC Place Stadium and the Vancouver Convention Centre, PavCo is a Crown Corporation of the Province of British Columbia with a mandate to generate significant economic and community benefit for the people of British Columbia.
In Canada, a Crown Corporation is a type of organization that is structured like a private corporation but is directly and wholly- owned by the Canadian Federal Government or a Provincial Government. The Crown Corporations have a longstanding presence in Canada and have a significant economic impact with commercial operations equivalent to seven percent of the Canadian gross domestic product (GDP).
‘SPORTSNET’ further stated that the lawyers for both the Major League Soccer (MLS) team and PavCo are working on the wording of the one-year deal.
The above development comes after Ravi Kahlon, British Columbia’s Minister of Economic Growth, said recently that the Crown Corporation offered to return the approximately $1 million to $1.5 million it makes annually from hosting the Whitecaps back to the club.
Kahlon, himself a longtime Whitecaps season ticket holder, said the lease agreement would also provide “additional revenue opportunities” for the team.
Commented Kahlon, “We have to balance two things. One, our desire and want to keep the Whitecaps here but also ensuring that the taxpayers are protected. I don’t think the taxpayers want us bankrolling the professional soccer teams but when there’s one-time supports that the team needs we’re happy to consider them.”
The Whitecaps understand the Government is doing its best with the new agreement, Schuster said.
Stated Schuster, “We actually want to thank them. Even if it is only a little step it’s a little step and its meaningful dollars.”
The PavCo said in a statement that it is “delighted” to hear the Whitecaps have accepted the deal – “We remain fully committed to doing everything we can to continue our partnership with the Vancouver Whitecaps and to help the team stay in British Columbia and at the BC Place for many years to come.”
The two sides have long been negotiating a new lease for the 55,000-seat stadium in downtown Vancouver.
Schuster and the Major League Soccer (MLS) Commissioner Don Garber said late last year that the existing deal was not sustainable because of limited scheduling flexibility and restricted revenue from food and beverage (F&B) sales.
New York (US)-based the Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams with 27 in the United States and three (3) in Canada.
The new lease does not solve the club’s long-term financial viability issues, Schuster said – “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.”
The Whitecaps signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the City of Vancouver in December to explore the viability of building a new stadium on the City’s Eastern edge.
The club and the City have until December 2026 to negotiate a long-term lease that would see the City maintain ownership of the land while the Whitecaps and their partners would finance the plan.
A design for the stadium will also be put forward along with the financial terms and the community benefits of the project.
Added Schuster, “We are looking at a few things that we hope could be a game changer. A different stadium set-up is obviously something we have been public about. We are still in the process there and seeing can that be a game changer and how quickly that would be a game changer if it could be a solution. Realistically, we probably need a lot of little steps and then maybe find one bigger step. And we’re working on that.”
The club is exploring several sources of revenue including selling the naming rights for its training center and for the playing field at BC Place and is appealing to BC’s corporate community for help, he added.
Vancouver is coming off its best-ever MLS season where the team pushed its way to the Confederation of North, Central America and Caribbean Association Football (Concacaf – one of FIFA’s six continental governing bodies) Champions Cup, won a fourth straight Canadian Championship title ( the annual soccer tournament contested by the Canadian professional teams) and played in its first MLS Cup Final (the annual championship game of the Major League Soccer [MLS] playoffs).
The Concacaf Champions Cup, formerly known as the Concacaf Champions League (2008-2023), is an international association football competition organized by the Concacaf as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America and the Caribbean.
Despite the on-field success the Whitecaps still sit at the bottom of the league when it comes to the team revenue trailing clubs in the middle of the standings by $40 million, Schuster said – “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.”
The Whitecaps remain up for sale after the current ownership group put the club on the market at the end of 2024.
Getting the club into a better financial position will hopefully make it more attractive to the potential buyers and the investors who will keep the team in Vancouver, Schuster said.
There is no deadline for making that happen, he added.
Concluded Schuster, “As long as there is another conversation or another door that opens we will try to go through this door and try to see if there is behind that door a bigger step or it leads to another small step. A lot of small steps can also get you to the solution.”
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