Vancouver needs to keep its MLS team. My @SportingTrib column on why Las Vegas isn't the proper option at this moment. https://t.co/TzUID6l9Jd— Steve Carp (@stevecarp56) May 1, 2026
An actual plan with actual context on how it could work for Vancouver! Color me impressed. It's worth the click IMO.
Well, the owners opened that can of worms again............... NEW: The latest on the Vancouver Whitecaps situation ahead of their game tonight vs LA Galaxy.I’ve been told by several supporters groups across MLS to expect Save The Caps banners and chants.+ More meeting between Garber, Eby lined up.For @SInow https://t.co/4mZEtQsG4R— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) May 2, 2026
I agree but come on the Union community isn't like the San Jose community...... we earned the negadelphia reputation ...... it's in our DNA..
Winning games brings fans. @wantmlsphilly got it right Ultimately a team will suck and fans will leave again. How long will a team stay bad? The longer they take the more fans they'll lose and some will just never come back. They'll lose interest. It's the American culture.
The Whitecaps are unique in that they had history before they joined MLS. Maybe the original franchisee should have taken precautions in the event of relocation the marques could not be sold and the local ownership group could sell them off separate, thus enabling the franchise to continue in Vancouver as the Whitecaps, in whatever league will have them. Some of the online rhetoric seems to forget that this is like the third or fourth iteration of the Whitecaps. They haven’t played 50 consecutive years, either. And certainly not at the top league level all that time. Thx, Jay!
Unique means only one, so not unique. There were only two years missed between the end of the NASL and the 1987 start of the Vancouver 86ers, who renamed to Whitecaps in 2001. That's the most continuity of any of the teams claiming NASL heritage.
There are, in fact, logics and values systems that don't favor allowing rich people to do whatever they like with their property. They aren't even particularly radical logics and value systems.
I'll restate my belief that it's real quaint to think that the Canadian fed or CONCACAF (or FIFA) get to tell MLS what to do.
Since December 15th, 2005, when AEG wouldn’t even leave behind a paper clip at the Quakes Front Office on Alamden Ave during their move Houston, my fear is and has always another relocation. The one good thing is with the stadium built and in place, it could be used for another MLS team coming in or for a USL D1 team. The bad news is , the stadium could always be dismantled. As for getting excited about the World Cup, unlike 1994 when Brazil was training at Santa Clara and their fans were partying every night in Los Gatos, I can't seem to get excited about the upcoming matches.
Welcome to the grammar police. Maybe you can help me get people to stop pronouncing "erudite" "airy you dite." It "literally" makes my head explode. I hope they can work it out to stay, and MLS can expand to Vegas. It would raise the profile of the leeague to have a team, and attendance would be supported by the fact that it would be the ultimate road trip for traveling fans.
FIFA does. Otherwise Liga MX would have teams in US cities already. San Antonio, Phoenix, Houston and/or a team in LA would do wonders for Liga MX if it were up to them.
Hope Vancouver stays. Feel like a team with that history drawing these fans should be able to make enough money but I don't see the world the same as the people at MLS HQ (or the people who have the money to buy the team) so not holding my breath. But if the Whitecaps go I don't think Vegas is the right option. It's a transplant, transient city that appears to be going from no professional sports franchises to 5 (with the NBA also sniffing around) in around 10 years. Not sure that's sustainable in a city with plenty of competition for people's entertainment dollar. MLS are coming late to the party. The Golden Knights are beloved because they were the first to take a chance on Vegas. The Raiders are the Raiders, they have a national fanbase, are a short flight from Oakland and LA, and have a culture that fits Vegas. Personally not sure if the A's will work there but with baseball in 2026 half the appeal is just going to the ballpark. So they can take advantage of the tourist trade. Not sure where MLS fits into any of this. They won't be the first, won't be able to attract out of towners like the Raiders, or even the A's. (MLB is still bigger than MLS), and will be competing with five, probably six other leagues, and the casino's and the residencies, and UNLV, and everything else for people's shrinking entertainment dollar. Not convinced.
The Earthquakes also continued on from 1985-1988 in the WSA. Then the SF Bay Blackhawks & Hawks came around from 1989-1994. Since 1974, there was only one missed year, in 1995 before the start of MLS that the SF Bay didn't have a team. They filled the gap I believe with Preki and the indoor San Jose Grizzlies.
#VWFC CEO and Sporting Director Axel Schuster will meet with the press in Vancouver on Wednesday. #MLS pic.twitter.com/pEpA76O4jI— Har Journalist (@HarJournalist) May 5, 2026 Hmm
It’s better to make $50,000 a game with a rent of $40,000 per game than to make $60,000 a game with a rent of $70,000. The exact numbers all made up but AIUI that’s the issue in Vancouver.
I think it's a sign of the hollowing-out of the economy in general. The correlation was never perfect, but there was a time where you could broadly assume a team that drew 20k was doing better than a team drawing 12k and you'd probably be right most of the time, but at this point in our economic history, success is mostly in how well you target a relatively small subset of people with high incomes.
You'll note that I said nothing about whether FIFA gets to tell Liga MX what to do. Liga MX isn't MLS, and Mexico isn't the US.
So MLS is just above FIFA and they can do whatever they want? This sounds like those guys on Twitter saying that Garber forced Liga MX to accept Leagues Cup and its conditions or else Garber was going get the FBI involved with the corruption in Liga MX/FMF. Garber just has the FBI on stand by if Liga MX doesn't comply.
Yes, MLS is above FIFA. Almost everyone and everything is above FIFA. But more to the actual point: FIFA has no credible threat they can levy against MLS. And FIFA is actually fairly powerful: puny things like the Canadian fed or CONCACAF have even less leverage. Your hypothetical example actually makes the point. Of course Garber didn't have to threaten LigaMX: they accepted the terms of the competition because we're the golden goose and it was in their interest to go along. Are we supposed to believe that FIFA would ban MLS players from participating in FIFA competitions in order to placate the Canadian fed and their puny league? Or that CONCACAF would ban MLS clubs from the CCC? Of course, some of the small time crooks who inhabit these organizations might complain, but history tells us that they're easily and cheaply bribed.
Unless you are the Palestinian FA (see Israeli clubs in the West Bank), you most definitely have governance control over your assigned territory. It’s a key element of the FIFA statutes. All made easier if the scenario is no longer grandfathered in, which a vacated Vancouver would no longer be.