Good Friday morning Caps fans. Hope you all are having a lovely week and that your weekend is fast approaching.
Well, we will have to wait a few more days before the Whitecaps return to MLS play, as Vancouver’s match against Chicago was postponed due to unsafe air quality due to wildfires in Minnesota. While the jokes about the Chicago Fire write themselves, this was the right move. I live just north of Chicago and it feels like you’re inhaling a bonfire every time you leave the house. Definitely not good for players, officials, and fans.
The good news is it’s been a busy week in Whitecaps world. The Caps grabbed a 1-1 draw to secure their passage into the Canadian Championship quarterfinals, setting up a date with fellow MLS side CF Montreal.
Credit to Cavalry for playing hard and giving the Caps a handful. It wasn’t the smoothest match for Vancouver and their defensive high line was tested by Goteh Ntignee and Ali Musse, who were difficult to contain in the open field. A draw was fair in the end, given how many chances the Caps created and should have scored, but the Cavs left some golden chances wanting as well. Overall, it was as entertaining a dead rubber match as you could ask for.
The big development this week was that multiple sources reported the Caps have put an offer in to manage BC Place. The details would be ironed out if PavCo want to move forward but this would seem to go a long way in both maximizing the Caps’ profit streams and giving the province an easy way out.
Simply put, even if the Caps could start building a stadium tomorrow, BC Place would still be an important part of the equation for bridging the gap until the team could move into Hastings Park (or wherever). Given that a new stadium is uncertain, this would be a win win for everyone. The team gets a more profitable setup that mirrors other MLS teams, fans get an accessible downtown stadium, the province gets someone who knows how to run stadiums to operate BC Place, and the ownership group doesn’t have to pitch a buyer on trying to finance the acquisition of a team and building a new stadium.
Now, it is unclear how open PavCo is to all of this. And we don’t know if MLS would see this as a sufficient move to secure the Caps’ profitability. You’d think the team wouldn’t have floated this without getting the OK from the league office. And given that the league is green lighting Montreal playing in a renovated Stade Olympique, you’d think this would be similarly acceptable.
I think this is the right move and I’d think the province is more interested in the idea now than when the idea was first mooted a couple of months ago. Stay tuned but fingers crossed this is the start of something positive for the future of the club.
Shameless Self Promotion
With no game Thursday night, get caught up on the takeaways from Monday’s CanChamp match.
Best of the Rest
Caps/Fire will be rescheduled to October 6, delaying the Mueller/Lewandowski reunion by a few months.
More on the Caps’ bid to run BC Place from The Province.
How the Caps’ players feel about all things World Cup.
A (French language) look at what the stadium future holds for our Quebecois brethren.
Big news, with the Northern Super League coming to Winnipeg.
it doesnt matter to me where you live- you do a very good job of keeping us Cap supporters informed and participants in the columns – THANKS!
Salty
well, its nice to see such positive progress- which i stated would happen a long time ago and i said things would pop open this summer- a solution would be found in order to keep this excellent franchise in the City- having the Provincial and City government leaders and a MLS executive assigned to the project were crucial developments (and Las Vegas will get its own franchise, alongwith another US city, bringing the league to 32 franchises)
as far as PAVCO goes, i think that the Provincial governement will decide the fate of the Whitecap-BC Place Stadium deal- PAVCO is directed by the BC Government
‘PavCo is a Crown corporation of the Province of British Columbia, with a mandate to generate significant economic and community benefit for the people of British Columbia.’ THAT MANDATE CAN BE CHANGED
certainly, BC PlaceStadium with its viable DT location and close connection to SkyTrain, and being a world class 55K facility, ticks all the boxes except for natural grass- but that can be solved which of course takes a vision and the cost for it
gardenerbible.com/how-do-indoor-stadiums-grow-grass/
Forsyth Barr Stadium in Dunedin, New Zealand, is a prime example of an indoor stadium that successfully grows natural grass using ETFE film.
but it might make the Stadium less usable for other events – BUT where there is a problem, a solution can be found
and for new investors, the outlay of their dollars is dramatically decreased, at least for the next 5 years- and Hastings Park North will be developed with other major ideas besides a soccer stadium being a major tenant
personally, i like BC Place Stadium- its easy to reach and has first class sightlines- just have to improve the food and drink which allows for capitalism to thrive (PAVCO has zero enthusiasm for doing so)- and other major avenues of revenue ventures are already being planned if the stadium control goes in the Whitecaps favor- Stadium naming rights, increased quality and choices for food/drink, advertising and other possibilities to create revenue
and its crucial for season ticket renewal packages which hit soon to have a completed deal prior to the end of this year… preferably by this Fall
Salty
QUATAR PLACE?
I have followed your writing for quite a while now – how do you live in Illinois and write about the caps? Pat