Good Monday morning Caps fans, hope you all had a relaxing, lovely weekend and that your work week is off to a good start.

Well, it was an eventful Friday (always right after my blog post publishes). I’m sure if you live on planet earth and are a Whitecaps fan then you’ve seen the news about the club being put up for sale by its current ownership group, a move that was apparently a long time coming.

This is only the third time in the last four years that an MLS team has been put up for sale, meaning it is a big moment for the entire league.

And, make no mistake, the stakes are high. The initial rush of excitement that an ownership group who, in many ways, was holding this club back are getting out was, of course, immediately followed by the realization of how risky things are for the future of the club.

I don’t want to dismiss the risk of the team being sold to new owners who wish to move the club but I am not as worried about it as many other folks seem to be. There are a few reasons for this.

One, I don’t think MLS is as desperate to exit the Canadian markets as many people (particularly U.S.-based fans) seem to think. For one, Toronto, Vancouver and Montreal are large cities that dwarf many of the top MLS expansion markets. Ceding those marketing opportunities to the Canadian Premier League would be a mistake and I think the league realizes that.

In addition, the 2026 World Cup signifies not just Canada’s importance to the development of North American soccer but also the growing dissolution of the borders that separate each of the different competitions on the continent. Leagues Cup shows that MLS wants to blur the lines between the U.S., Canada and Mexican markets and I don’t think allowing the Caps to move (or Montreal for that matter) fits in with that.

But nothing in all of this is guaranteed. All the reporting at the moment points heavily to the Caps staying but what if a Godfather offer came in that dwarfed what a local ownership group was willing to pay (one likely suitor, the Aquilini family, has already said they’re not interested).

MLS, like the Caps’ old ownership group, listens to only one thing and that’s money. I think more money is to be made if the Caps stay (for one, I can’t imagine MLS passing up another $500 million expansion fee from a Las Vegas or Indianapolis) but if those conditions change, I don’t think anyone is going to be moved by nostalgia or the history of the Caps’ brand.

And then there is the more immediate anxiety. Axel Schuster said he is moving ahead in finding a new coach and that the offseason will continue apace. But if there is uncertainty about ownership, you have to think there will be even less money to spend on what is a crucial offseason.

This seismic change could really cut either way for the club. If done correctly, it could usher the Caps into a place in MLS 5.0 (or whatever number we’re on now) — helping them arrive as a modern, competitive MLS team on and off the pitch. They aren’t that far away but we could see such previously improbable developments as a soccer-specific stadium. But none of this is guaranteed and all of us should stand ready to apply pressure in whatever way we can (a la Save the Crew) to make sure this club survives and thrives into the future. This saga is just getting started so buckle up, pace yourself and we’ll see where things go.

Shameless Self Promotion

Its the biggest Caps news story in a long, long time so you better believe our guys were on top of what it might all mean.

Best of the Rest

Hear from Axel Schuster on what he thinks of the sale and the former ownership group.

Meanwhile, a fan has started a GoFundMe to buy the club. You have to admire the boldness!

Leagues Cup officially has scrapped the summer break, the Liga MX commissioner confirmed, ushering in another chapter for the competition.

MLS is fretting about a 47% drop off in viewership for the MLS Cup final, amid a decline in marketing from those linear TV partners.