Less involved/interested in football. Blue Jays will be their priority while spending to the cap with the other teams.
I'm sharing this article from Paul Beirne that dives into the Whitecaps situation. He was the first employee of Toronto FC (ushered MLS into Canada) and a decade later helped found & launch the CPL. His text making waves online and Voyagers which he titled- North American Soccer Accord https://sellinghope.substack.com/p/...accord?has_completed_unsubscribed_unlock=true He's presenting a financial analysis that shows the 3 MLS clubs hitting a wall and being unviable long term. He's proposing the following choice : they stay until relocation is forced upon them or a negotiated exit to avoid the extinction of the clubs histories, names. His main financial arguments Currency: Revenue in CAD, DPs/transfers in USD. A 1-cent FX swing costs millions Tax: 53% marginal rate in Canada vs. ~38% in FL/TX. Same cap hit, less take-home. Distance: Vancouver flies 60k miles/year. Winning makes it worse (more playoff gates in CAD, bonuses in USD) Other point : doing everything right doesn't matter Vancouver just had a championship-caliber year and still trailed the average MLS club by $40M CAD in revenue. They're for sale. Over 100 groups passed. The first credible bid was a group wanting to buy and relocate to Vegas. What's in it for MLS US owners MLS already voted for a winter schedule over the Canadian clubs' objections. Swapping them for Vegas, Phoenix, and Detroit gives the league: Warm-weather, no-state-tax, single-currency markets Massive relocation fees paid to the 27 US owners A death-blow to USL Premier's expansion plans What's in it for the Canadian owners The owners sell their MLS slots for ~$500M USD, buy into the CPL for ~$25M CAD, keep their crests/histories, and pocket the FX spread. They trade a money-losing US-tenant model for a solvent domestic one The badge stays home, the math gets fixed He does address mechanism used by other leagues to mitigate those disadvantages however, none have ever interest MLS with regard to the Canadian clubs. How his proposal is structured and would play out is purely hypothetical. The point of focus of his article is understanding the financial environment they are operating and that status quo isn't viable long-term. Proposal or not, discussing how to save and maintain those clubs here needs to enter the conversation. With his reach and contacts, he just started that conversation
Just want to point out a few things: 1.) As you mentioned Paul works for the CPL 2.) USL already has teams in Las Vegas, Phoenix and Detroit..... so they don't need to expand there 3.) Is CPL a viable entity financially? 4.) These teams struggle now with recognizable name players as is, how will they fair with unknown players? 5.) Travel costs will still be high. Still will be traveling across Canada 6.) How do they maintain current MLS infrastructure (training centers, coaches, etc.? 7.) Yes, the CPL operates at a lower cost, but it also has lower revenues. How will these teams make up for the loss of Sponsorship and broadcast money? 8.) Do the current ownership groups want to be in CPL instead?
Regarding Las Vegas, Phoenix and Detroit, who cares if USL already has teams there. MLS can join those cities if they want to. If USL decides to pack its bags, leave and then whine on-line that MLS kicked them out of the city that's on them. Everyone wants ProRel like it's done in England but then they start whinning if MLS puts an MLS team or MLSNP team in a city where USL already has a team. With ProRel, cities shouldn't be limited to only one team. Everyone wants competition except when it comes time to compete against MLS.
I believe the CPL salary cap is about US$943k. That's about 1/25th of the Whitecaps current payroll. They also have the W2 MLS NP team. I believe they claimed to spend $6M a year on their academy when Grant Wahl did a survey several years ago.
He's not trying to answer all the questions above. He's saying bluntly "do nothing" and decades of clubs & Canadian football history might be gone.
Big news here as former president of Roses FC Annie Larouche is the new Director of the Olympic Stadium in a crucial time for soccer in Montreal. pic.twitter.com/LFaGODZCW7— Andy Coronado (@andystake88) July 14, 2026 So this is more Montreal related but I think this is turning into the Canadian thread for stadiums.
The Vancouver Whitecaps have made a bid to run BC Place, @risingaction and @aftncanada report, believing they can make more money than PAVCO can running the stadium.PAVCO would get a share of revenue, the Whitecaps would control dates.https://t.co/4Ectq5WcMW— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) July 14, 2026 The Vancouver Whitecaps have made a bid to run BC Place, @risingaction and @aftncanada report, believing they can make more money than PAVCO can running the stadium. PAVCO would get a share of revenue, the Whitecaps would control dates.
Big ask from people who are looking to sell the club. Also, were the Lions given the same opportunity?
Whitecaps made a bid. The bid does not appear to have been accepted. You and I are afforded the same opportunity to make a bid, as would anyone else.
"it was one of a series of ideas that have been recently floated, as the team and the provincial government try to find a solution that will increase revenue."
Fair but nevertheless, a BC Place deal doesn't save the Whitecaps. It just buys them time to finalize the sale and find a local group despite over a 100 group declining to buy the club The way I see it, only 2 ways to save them A local group or foreign group willing to keep them in Vancouver agrees to pay up to $1B CAD to buy the club + build a new stadium while being willing to keep losing tens of millions annually The league recognize the financial disparity Canadian clubs operates under and address them to firmly keep them put. The NHL did that with a more aggressive revenue-sharing mechanism that address both the currency issue affecting Canadian clubs and also help support weaker markets in the southern US. Ignoring the financial realities of Canadian clubs just ensures that sooner or later, owners will want to cash out one by one before they cumulative losses outweigh the valuation of their franchises. Yes that includes Toronto FC now that Rogers Communications owns 100% of MLSE. Losing money for fun is far from being in their DNA. They aren't in love with the sport to begin with and don't even own the TV rights to their own club - their biggest rival does (Bell)
It absolutely would save the Whitecaps, if a deal came along. There is no way they reach a year to year management deal for the venue, it would be a long-term agreement, hence saving the Caps. I know you are very proud of the Pavco setup for the venue, but the reality is that it is simply not a great set-up. Publicly run* venues typically don't do well because they simply don't operate as efficiently nor have the ability to make the proper arrangements for tenants. They are handicapped by their public benefit mandate and ultimately don't benefit the public. You've stated repeatedly on here all the reasons why Pavco is a poor set-up, so I don't need to go in depth here. *Im not talking about publicly-owned but privately operated venues, which is pretty much nearly the standard these days. Im talking about publicly owned venues operated by a public entity, like Pavco, where most common practice business arrangements between the venue and tenants are impossible because they are considered a subsidy of taxpayer dollars.
Both the league and the team view taking over BC Place as a short-term bridge to keep the team afloat while they work towards their ultimate goal: building their own soccer-specific stadium. In short, taking over BC Place operations would be a step forward and could provide crucial short-term stability. However, it wouldn't single-handedly close a $40 million revenue gap, meaning it is not a complete "save" on its own. Knowing how much BC Place made in profit the last time the province published the numbers, even if the Whitecaps outperformed PavCo tenfold, it wouldn't make a dent in their massive recurring deficit. They need what the NHL did for Canadian clubs and southern US teams but I doubt MLS goes there
in both Montreal and Vancouver, the indoor stadiums will be able to be used for winter games- only TFC is completely outdoors- BRRRRRRRRRRRRR
It's a good thing there aren't any games in Toronto this week either.............. Are TFC, and the CPL for that matter going to have to factor in wildfire season when making nthe schedule?
BC Place Stadium control will be moved from PAVCO (controlled by the socialist BC Government) to the Vancouver Whitecaps before the end of this year IMO- capitalism will spawn new ideas of how to close the revenue gap- socialists have no idea how to create money, only how to spend other peoples' money it certainly will be a deal that will go to until 2031- after that, will it be a new SSS owned by the Whitecaps or has the new revenue-creating ideas made it possible to stay at BC Place Stadium?
Montreal didn't even sell out the derby game with TFC yersterday, during summer. Not sure how they plan to fill Olympic Stadium while the Montreal Canadiens are playing indoors. Same question will be raised with TFC and Maple Leafs...worst, they are losing summer dates where they could have made up for the drop during the NHL. I've seen and been to very cold TFC games. A very unpleasant experience even for a fan, let alone casuals. My skepticism is that the Whitecaps have absolutely no experience in managing such a building, none. MLSE at least does via Scotiabank Arena and now via Rogers Centre. The Province has not answered their bid yet and I do recall one minister saying this was off the table.
Is this true? Joey Saputo: the billionaire who figured Quebec outThere is a certain kind of businessman who spends his life complaining about Quebec. The taxes are too high. The language laws are too strict. The unions are too powerful. The government is too interventionist. The nationalists… pic.twitter.com/W99SAFzNAC— Benoit Khézami (@BenoitKhez) July 18, 2026 Joey Saputo: the billionaire who figured Quebec out There is a certain kind of businessman who spends his life complaining about Quebec. The taxes are too high. The language laws are too strict. The unions are too powerful. The government is too interventionist. The nationalists are too irrational. And then there is Joey Saputo. Saputo, the owner of CF Montreal and heir to the Saputo dairy empire, has done what almost no other billionaire in Quebec has managed to do: he has turned the province’s political complexity into a competitive advantage. He hasn’t fought Quebec’s system. He has mastered it. The proof came this week, when the CAQ government announced a massive renovation of the Olympic Stadium—a project that will keep CF Montreal in the city for the next 20 years, and potentially save the Montreal Alouettes in the process. The decision was hailed as a victory for soccer fans, for Montreal’s East End, and for the city’s sports culture. But make no mistake: the biggest winner in this deal is Joey Saputo. The Anatomy of a Masterclass Consider what Saputo just pulled off. He secured a publicly funded, winter-ready stadium for his team without spending a dime of his own money. He didn’t threaten to move the team to Detroit—he simply let the threat exist. He didn’t demand a bailout—he let the government realize that losing CF Montreal would be a political disaster. And he did it all while maintaining the support of the fans, the league, and the city. This is not luck. This is a strategy that Saputo has been perfecting for over a decade. When CF Montreal joined MLS in 2012, Saputo understood something that many other owners fail to grasp: in Quebec, a sports team is not just a business. It is a cultural institution. And cultural institutions have a political value that far exceeds their economic value. Saputo played this card relentlessly. He invested in the academy, developed local talent, and wrapped the team in the colors of Quebec nationalism. He made CF Montreal feel like Quebec’s team, not just Montreal’s team. He pandered to the CAQ without alienating the federalists. He pandered to the multicultural youth without alienating the older francophone base. He walked a tightrope that would have broken any other owner—and he did it with remarkable discipline. Why He Won The Big O bailout is a testament to Saputo’s political intelligence. He didn't just lobby the government. He created a coalition that the government could not ignore: the mayor of Montreal (Soraya Martinez Ferrada), the MLS commissioner (Don Garber), the fans, the media, and the East End business community. He made it politically costly to say no—and politically rewarding to say yes. And he did it all while keeping his team competitive, but not too competitive. Saputo famously kept the roster spending low during the stadium debate, avoiding the temptation to build a superteam that might have been relocated anyway. It was a disciplined, prudent, and strategic move that protected his asset while ensuring the team didn’t completely collapse. This is not the behavior of a man who panics. This is the behavior of a man who understands that in Quebec, patience is a weapon, and political capital is a currency that can be spent just as effectively as money. The Quebec Paradox Joey Saputo has figured out what so many others fail to understand: Quebec is not a normal market. It is a political market. The state is not just a regulator; it is a participant. The government does not just set rules; it makes decisions that can make or break entire industries. To succeed in Quebec, you need to understand the state. You need to build relationships with politicians. You need to speak the language—not just French, but the language of nationalist pride, regional equity, and cultural survival. Saputo speaks that language fluently. He knows that Quebecers will forgive a lot—high taxes, endless bureaucracy, and even a lack of championships—if you show them that you respect them.