Hastings Racecourse in Vancouver announces that it has shut down permanently, effective immediately through their Facebook.That location has been talked about as a potential soccer stadium for the Vancouver Whitecaps.Timely to say the least ahead of MLS Cup. pic.twitter.com/Dc2cM4iewq— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) December 5, 2025
I don't know. Could have been worse. If I was a Canada fan I'd have preferred a different opponent from Pot 2, but thems the breaks. I would rather have drawn 2/3rds of the teams in Pot 2 than the Swiss. The US got the lowest ranked pot 2 opponent in Australia. The Swiss blew beat the USMNT and Mexico with ease this past summer. USMNT 4-1 and Mexico 4-2. THe USMNT didn't have a couple of key players (those at the Club World Cup, and Pulisic asked out)...............but it was still a good version of the USMNT we fielded. They really demolished us. Not close. The Swiss is one of those teams for which we say "oh it could have been worse" and then you look at their roster and their record. They didn't lose a game in 2025. The last game they lost was to Spain in the Nations league in November 2024. A tight 3-2 game IN SPAIN. They've been beating 2nd tier teams comfortably. Blew Sweden off the field last month. The Swiss are one of these dark horse teams that have the potential to pull off a big upset in the knockout stage. They are VERY, VERY good defensively. Who the hell knows what we'll get with Italy. They have every ability to choke like dogs and not even qualify. It likely won't be easy if they're the opponent, though. Qatar? Yeah, Canada should beat Qatar. They were at the 2023 Gold Cup and Panama really beat them badly 4-0. Haiti beat them in the Group stage. Certainly should be a better draw than 22! Certainly a chance to advance.
Caps played there back in the NASL days. Empire field or something like that. Cap ownership has been exploring the potential of Hastings with the city since earlier in the year. Not a transit friendly location as things are except for Burnaby and North Van. Who knows? Other interest like from First Nations to use site to expand slots.
Even if that location is now on the table, that doesn't solve the concession on the BC Place lease they are looking for. Whitecaps could have had Empire Field (also on that site) the entire time. I guess we'll see
Now Don Garber is implying that BC Place isn't a great facility on its own, the same that hosted the Winter Olympics Games and will host the World Cup. He's starting to checkout from Canada. Message received - MLS in Canada is on borrowed time anyways "I'm not quite sure we can do that today in Vancouver with their facility."MLS Commissioner Don Garber speaks on the Whitecaps' future at BC Place. #MLSCup pic.twitter.com/S1iQ8WofGy— TSN (@TSN_Sports) December 6, 2025
Great comments everybody. The (North) American sports mentality that the city has to build the stadium for a rich owner or else they leave is something I cannot comprehend despite being born and raised here. Just gives me flashbacks to how the Montreal Expos of MLB moved to Washington. Does a grocer tell a municipality to build their supermarket? I know a few years ago there was an owner of a General Motors Dealership here who wouldn't do anything about his decrepit outdated building and he was waiting for the city to build him a new shiny building. But any other industry besides team sports where the city uses tax money for rich people investments?
It would be sadistic to rob Vancouver of the Whitecaps IMO (just as it would have been to move the Columbus Crew).
The Facility is fine, that's not the issue. The issue is the lease agreement where the Caps get very little revenue from their matches there. Teams having their own stadium and control of gameday revenues, and also non-gameday events have been key to MLS' rise from its near death experience in 2022. I wouldn't say that MLS is "checking out of Canada" either. I totally get that you would love to see that. BC Place and more importantly the lease agreement the Caps have was very good back in 2011. MLS is in a much different place financially, and operations wise in 2025. The costs of running an organization in MLS have risen sharply. Professional Soccer has unique challenges here in the United States and Canada. Chief among them is getting proper facilities built. Which let's not forget that this is one of the major hurdles holding the CPL back currently.
I know all that but his comment about BC Place was strange to say the least - he clearly was talking about the stadium itself in his comment It's not about what I want but history. Bettman checked out as soon as 1993 for the NHL MLB checked out of Montreal (Netflix documentary on the Expos) Just to name those 2 above - so you'll understand the skepticism from someone who's seen it over and over again as soon as US-based markets gets interested. Garber has the same body language, same talking points, same pattern. Government don't subsidize sport infrastructure for the profit of billionaires in Canada that easily - never on the US scale from the onset. CPL has struggled with facilities because public funding streams don’t cover pro stadiums. Clubs like Halifax, Quebec City, and Kelowna are exploring projects, but these are incremental and community-driven, not massive upfront builds. This mirrors how NHL clubs historically started in smaller rinks and expanded over decades, rather than receiving immediate billion-dollar venues. Clearly, Garber didn't get the memo by thinking that "threats" would make governments move and please the fans This is just to highlight the further incompatibility between the 3 Canadian clubs and MLS. US clubs often benefit from public-private partnerships that Canadian clubs cannot replicate.There absolutely ZERO upsides for the 3 clubs changing their schedule where they lose their premium spring/summer spots forcing them to compete against the NHL more often. They will be weakened significantly as of 2027 - hence my comment about "borrowed time"
Vancouver FC has drawn 2025 Concacaf Champions Cup winners Cruz Azul in Round 1 of the 2026 tournament.La Máquina, the giants of Liga MX, will play a home and away series vs the #CanPL side. pic.twitter.com/WyQCc6Neao— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) December 10, 2025 The Concacaf Champions Cup Draw for 2026 has been completed.🇨🇦Whitecaps FC v 🇨🇷 Cartaginés🇨🇦Atletico Ottawa v 🇺🇸Nashville 🇨🇦Vancouver FC v 🇲🇽Cruz Azul 🇨🇦Forge v 🇲🇽Tigres UANLRound 1 starts Feb. 17. pic.twitter.com/3yC7DKLgsN— Ben Steiner (@BenSteiner00) December 10, 2025
🚨 Just in... 🚨The City of Vancouver and Vancouver Whitecaps FC are going to make a "joint announcement" at City Hall on Thursday morning. Mayor Ken Sim and Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster will be there.— Rob Williams (@RobTheHockeyGuy) December 11, 2025
#VWFC and the City of Vancouver are making an announcement tomorrow morning at City Hall. 👀 pic.twitter.com/Z1lMr3CRhy— Joshua Rey (@JoshuaRey00) December 11, 2025
Andiamo! 🤌Vanni Sartini has been named the new head coach and general manager of @HFXWanderersFC! ⚓🔗: https://t.co/4MYACYN3Zz#CanPL pic.twitter.com/hdtprgkUkb— Canadian Premier League (@CPLsoccer) December 10, 2025
Possibly looking at a national training centre: Canada Soccer Issues Request for Information for National Training Centre Initiative.MORE: https://t.co/Hwa44pNcwi pic.twitter.com/7O2sSOJXlW— Canada Soccer (@CanadaSoccerEN) December 11, 2025
Disappointing for Ottawa supporters: Atlético Ottawa’s Concacaf Champions Cup Round One home leg will be played in Hamilton, Ont. as our home stadium (TD Place, Ottawa, ON) is unavailable due to an exciting renovation project. pic.twitter.com/Mysze0qIyR— Atlético Ottawa (@atletiOttawa) December 12, 2025
Canada Soccer’s Request for Information: “Does this involve money on our part? Because we don’t have any.”
This is true for a lot of nations, though. Definitely true of the USMNT/USSF. We just don't talk about it. We know only some of the sugar daddies. Billionaires like Arthur Blank, Ken Griffin and Scott Goodwin. How Billionaires and a Costly Red Card Are Reshaping U.S. Soccer “We hope to prove to folks that we’re good stewards of capital—that by virtue of giving us money, you can see impact,” U.S. Soccer CEO JT Batson said in an interview. “And if you look at our business over the last two years, we went from a business losing $40 million a year to one that will be quite profitable and is making record investment in things that years ago wouldn’t have seemed possible.” That's a weird thing for the CEO of a nonprofit organization to say............................... That article is a really interesting one for people interested in the business of the USSF.
Davies extends until 2030: 𝗛𝗘𝗥𝗘 𝗧𝗢 𝗦𝗧𝗔𝗬 🔥🎵Phonzey extends his contract until 2️⃣0️⃣3️⃣0️⃣ pic.twitter.com/TgW3wfce5E— FC Bayern (@FCBayernEN) December 27, 2025
FYI CSB CEO confirmed in a recent interview that Valour FC HAD NOT folded - the club was "suspended" The league has removed Wade Miller and Winnipeg Football Club as owners. The league is actively seeking new investors to take over the club in a new smaller venue made for Football. There's talks as we speak. Lastly, a French entity based in Paris has trademarked the name "Quebec Football Club" - most likely for Québec City