You can’t make money in MLS without your own stadium so no wonder Caps took a hardline on transfer fee. I think you will find it wasn’t much different than what other MLS clubs have done when selling to Europe. Definitely not normal in world of football but MLS is a very different creature in that world. Fun watching Davies grow. The thing about him is he is always progressing from when he first appeared for Caps and continues to do so today.
I get what you are saying about the stadium- the league is going to loose a shit load of $$$$$$$$$$$$$ for doing closed stadium games soon- most major sports have HUGE media contracts,,, but not MLS which relies mostly on game attendances but I still think the Caps owners and long-term FO are getting/already have a reputation for always squeezing players balls and for not being competitive enough in the player market- with billionaire owners, you would think they would be more indulgent in order to be a serious contender, rather than a freak playoff team (1 home game says it all)- sometimes you have to spend money in order to make more money- this is a terrific market and the Caps owners' are vastly underselling its presence on the sporting scene last week, I saw a terrific 1 hour euro special documentary on Phonzie on his growth and development as a player- large tributes to his family, Edmonton coaches, his agent friend and his teammates/staff at Bayern-- barely a mention of the Whitecaps which IMO was deliberate after what happened during negotiations but- are we surprised ???- Davies has hugely surpassed even Bayern's expectations, especially in such a short period of time- the football world is before him and there is no ceiling for his potential- he is and will be for a long-time, the soccer super-star Canada has always needed- and he is fast-approaching being a world class player (wouldn't it be terrific if Canadian jonathan david, now playing in belgium and setting it on-fire with his play and becoming another budding euro star, ended up at Bayern ??)
I will counter point you on the perspective of asking Davies to waive his share. 1 - it is in the CBA; so while not normal in the world of the game, that is bargained for in good faith 2 - the transfer money had to be used on transfer fees, development ,etc. It could not go directly into Kerfoot's pocket without some development expense to counter it. Now, I am sure Rachel is good at creatively accounting for this but the math on the Caps transfer fees made it pretty clear most of it actually did go to players (tons wasted by Carl on underperformers but that is a whole other talk). So, I will argue it was more mean spirited as there was not a direct benefit to the ownerships bottom line here in the sense of pocketing it or covering a loss from operations. 3 - if other clubs have done it, that is not a good excuse. We know Davies backstory, his parents, what they did to get here, etc. It should never have been even considered a question to ask of him.
In less than a month we will have at least a cheesy exhibition tournament to yap about! It will be a nice way to see some players for next year.
I am bottoming out re: my connection with the Caps- the last straw is finding out how the Whitecap owners and FO dealt with alphonso on his trade to Bayern Munich while we do have 2 new people in the FO, the same patterns of the past in dealing with players, fans and questionable conduct are still present today I will go to the odd game but do not want STs- if a CPL team comes to the lower mainland, I will look there for my soccer fix just too much disappointment over so many years... and the owners just don't get it
The women's matter last year hit rock bottom for me as far as this ownership. And the disgusting day the report was released and the Caps got all the media to parrot their smooth PR (including a female journalist who does interviews for the clubs which made it more sickening to me); and Sekeres attacking Ciara's credibility in their interview. Nothing came of it and Kerfoot and CO lied to their faces. The Davies transfer fee is dirtbag level stuff too (I can not believe people are defending this), but its not nearly as bad as that. But yeah, the last 10 years sucked a lot out of me as far as my enjoyment. The Carl years left me with about 10 percent of what I used to have. I hang on, because well, I have done pro soccer in Vancouver for most of my life. so I suppose I will hang onto this one until there is another alternative (ie CPL). |But its not the same, I dont buy merchandise, dont collect, mostly am reminded of the slime and not the good things ,and so on. It will be nice to have some games to talk about and I do like their two new executives; but of course they still work for Kerfoot and have Lewis and Anderson in the mix so it is not as progressive as people may think it will be. Dear CPL: Get a team in Surrey or Langley. I would buy an ST just to support you even if I could only make half the games!
Our dumpster fire of a front office continues to embarrass me. Mark Pannes out as CEO after 6 months. Whitecaps FC appoint Axel Schuster to new role as CEO & sporting director VANCOUVER, BC – Vancouver Whitecaps FC announced on Tuesday that the club has made a structural shift by combining the positions of CEO and sporting director into one role and effective immediately Axel Schuster will lead all aspects of the club. Schuster will continue to report directly to co-owner and executive chair Jeff Mallett and the ownership group. As a result of this restructuring, Mark Pannes is no longer with the club.
its not about cutting costs IMO- I think it would be that pannes saw what the Club was really all about and pulled the plug before his reputation was blackened by such a disgraceful ownership group - what he was told to sign here was found out to be a lot of 'smoke and mirrors', a dog and pony show and basically he was lied to … much like we saw when former top-notch CEO, Paul Barber, left but the shite show continues- does anyone really believe in this Club anymore ?? the motto is-- OUR DISHONOR not sure what you mean by 'the same environment as 6 months ago'- maybe you could clarify
another reason to give up my STs after over 40 years (since 1978) I am beginning to think that Old Fan has it right- The Caps will not be a part of MLS by 2025, but will go down the same path as the Grizzlies of NBA fame and disfame - it all came down to the unscrupulous owner and now it will be because of the unscrupulous owners I believed in minority owner, jeff mallet, but no longer do- he is a puppet of majority owner, greg kerfoot
Chris, you been around long enough. There is no way the driving force of this was to cut costs. His salary may be healthy for him, but its a small number in the operations of this business. The continued damage to the club reputation will cost them more in lost tickets next year than what they pay this guy. Pannes comes in with ambition and integrity and openness. He was willing to talk to fans and admit fault in a way we have never seen during the MLS days. He also came in wanting to build the club but was faced with the same cheap ownership who will only allow them to spend money offered by MLS or these Davies transfer fee money that they were required to spend. THey won't kick in much more at all, just a pittance. Put all that together and its hard to see how they could have co-existed for 4 years unless either A) Kerfoot had a miraculous change in views or B) Pannes was willing to accept this and stain his resume. The may was just CEO of AS Roma , so B) is very unlikely. When they hired him I thought that was a signal the club wanted to change. But they did things the same way and didn't even bother to open up money from their own pocket to get better players. All in all, this was something inevitable although the timing is shorter than we could have predicted. As for Axel; he is new to this type of position so he will certainly be much more malleable to what the owners want; and of course he still has to slip on the slime that Lewis and Anderson leave on the floor. This season of course is a write off, but I can not see him making it to 2022 as CEO. Just seems to be the way this thing works if you are a person who wants to change the club or push it beyond its concrete ceiling.
I dont see how the club can make it. It is on a path to continue to erode its fanbase, ticket sales, ad revenues, etc and at some point MLS will have to take a hard look about selling this to a market willing to pay a lot of money to have a team. The club can only go so far down before it is not sustainable and a lost cause.
I still believe that Vancouver is a terrific soccer market- I have seen what committed, investing, visionary owners can do - average attendance could be in the +27 000 range and some games could go even higher IMO just not with this ownership group of 1 invisible majority owner, 1 puppet flown in from san fran and 2 distant owners who have busy lives doing other things, including 1 who has other football teams that he is more passionate about- they should realize that no fan really believes anything in what they say THE TRUST HAS FINALLY BEEN BROKEN
Its a great soccer market but it is not one right now; it has been harmed over and over by this owner and there comes a point where it is not recoverable in it's current form.
sounds more like a pissing streaming onto all caring soccer supporters - time to get the umbrella up and look for an alternative but the article is becoming more reality than fantasy
While I think it is very possible Kerfoot tanks this market to the point MLS moves it, and I would be happier with a lovely CPL team in this market who buy the Whitecaps name, I feel Greg Kerfoot has zero credibility to run anything related to sports. GTFO of out market and into something you are good at. Don't ruin our MLS market and think you can just gleefully have the right to get a CPL team. ANd to think........ Aquillini had a fully prepared MLS bid ready to go, with a full stadium plan at Swangard (20k with underground parking and Burnabys support); and Premier Campbell somehow convinced him to drop his bid and never mention it again. At the time, not knowing much about Kerfoots methods, I figured he earned the right to be the bid and thought it was the right thing to get Aquillini out of the way. Looking back, I have to wonder what we would have had with him willing to spend money, wanting to win, and being outdoors at Swanny. Remember, Professional soccer and development in our city has been various clubs in various leagues. The Whitecaps name has been used in three separate entities. This does not have to be MLS to be an enjoyable and passionate experience in our city. I can envision a CPL or USL team (if the CPL fails or has to merge) here with the Whitecaps name; outdoors drawing 7000 a game and bringing us good times, Canadian development, and building a better legacy. I can not see a good path happening under Greg Kerfoot and the MLS in any way shape or form.
OH yeah, and to make it even more seedy Pannes was in the US attending to his fathers funeral and business and family when the Caps sacked him. Didn't even wait for the man to come back to work and tell him in person. How cowardly and pathetic and down right cruel is that. I am going to say it ******** you Greg Kerfoot. You are a disgrace to professional soccer in Vancouver. You have unzipped your pants time and time again and pissed all over the legacy of whatever we had for decades here. All your lackeys and yes men and yes women have done your bidding while you hide in the shadows like a coward. ******** you and I would be happy to say this to your face if you ever came out of your bunker. It will be amusing to hear my ticket rep spin this as he did with the women's issue (disgruntled ex player), the davies 10% demand (other MLS clubs asked for it to be waived), the Carl/Baldwin garbage (we dont have proof of that!), and so on.
Non even sure CPL would approuve that ownership after the scandals and trying to rip off Davies. There would need to be a change at the top. Also, Lenarduzzi was kind of being a prick to CPL when the league was being built arguing that they should have accepted Whitecaps 2 and publicly claiming that CPL was snubbing him
The problem with the MLS Single entity structure means that MLS owns the Whitecaps IP unless there's a clause in the eventually of a separation. CPL won't fail, it's here to stay. Lower mainland team will happen, it's just that the league is focused on Quebec at the moment
Well my friend, I will be in line to buy tickets as soon as the CPL is here. (I will not support it if it has anything to do with the current ownership or FO team. They have lost their place as far as I am concerned). Interesting point on the Caps name and IP. I suppose MLS would have a case to hang into it forever so nobody can make a dollar but who knows. Its a great name but we had 86ers for a long time so we can certainly enjoy the game in our city without it being called Whitecaps. Unfortunately , the Whitecaps name has got a ton of stink on it after 10 years in the MLS, I would be fine if they couldn't carry the name to a new league with a new owner. I hope you are right about the CPL making it long term. It certainly won over much of my skepticism after the first season. The market here is absolutely ripe for a team; there are thousands of people who are pretty much done with giving money to the Caps beyond a few single games here and there.
did something happen between marc pannes and the staff or some inappropriate comment/behavior that forced the Caps to fire him ? because this is sports ownership insanity or a well-developed plan to kill the franchise and sell it to an American city for a money wind-fall- we have been down the road before with the NBA Grizzlies and this looks and smells like the same
Based on the known and proven history of the Whitecaps, I would say it is highly unlikely the Pannes dismissal has anything to do with misconduct. They did not say he was terminated for cause and nothing was out on social media that could be a negative comment. Everything points to him not towing the line that Kerfoot and Co want; and they just not being able to co-exist. A CEO who wants to be transparent, ambitious, and spend money on the first team, is not someone who will last long with this ownership group (unless the ownership group had a massive change of belief). Why they did it while he was out of the country and not face to face when he returned? Well, based on everything we know about Caps ownership, they hide and are cowards when faced with challenges so they certainly would be capable of doing it this way. We may never know exactly; but we have enough evidence on how they do things to draw conclusions with confidence. Of course, if something does come out then we can give the Caps one positive comment out of all the other bullshit they do. I have posted this before, that this smells in some way like an intentional tank (as Heisley did back in the day). To make the business case here so bad that there is no way they could find a buyer to keep it in Vancouver, and then move it to a lucrative US market. (for example, Mallet claiming the |Caps are losing tens of millions. Since they are current not paying players or BC Place, that is an absolute bullshit number but it would deter anyone from picking up the phone to inquire about buying it) MLS can not keep expanding, they do need to move a team or two instead of adding more spots and this is one way to do it. This is more conspiracy talk, but it is not an unreasonable narrative. We may have to go through this pain in order to get Kerfoot out of our market and bring in something we can enjoy once again. It may not carry the MLS brand or the Whitecaps name, but we don't have to have either of those to have a thriving professional team in Vancouver. We have supported professional teams in Vancouver in multiple leagues with multiple names and we can do that again.