Whitecaps get MLS franchise

By Tristan Noble

he Vancouver Whitecaps will join
| Major League Soccer in 2011.
Whitecaps commissioner Don
Garber awarded Vancouver the franchise
before a packed press conference on
Wednesday.

“We are thrilled to welcome Vancouver
into Major League Soccer for the 2011
season,” Garber said.

Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi
told the conference, “The successful bid
for a Major League Soccer franchise offers
a whole new level of opportunity for our
organization, and by extension, for our city
and our province”. BC Premier Gordon
Campbell told the press conference that
“The Vancouver Whitecaps have been part
of our province’s history for more than three
decades. As an MLS team, the Whitecaps
organization will carry on that incredible
tradition, as well as generate economic
benefits of up to $25 million each season”.

The Franchise fee that the Whitecaps
organization will have to fork out to get
into the MLS will be $40 million. The new
ownership group includes former Yahoo!
President Jeff Mallett as well as Phoenix

Suns guard and Victoria native Steve Nash,
whose brother Martin Nash is a central
figure of the Whitecaps team.

The Whitecaps will play the 2009-
2010 United Soccer League season at
Swanguard stadium before moving to the
renovated BC Place stadium. Renovations
include a specific soccer configuration that
will accommodate 20,000 fans and will be
“seamless,” according to the Whitecaps.
Many American football stadiums that are
temporarily converted for soccer games
often fail to get rid of the field lines for
football, and those lines overlap with
the field lines intended for soccer. The
renovated BC Place stadium will also
include a retractable roof, new seating,
access for disabled persons and improved
concession spaces. Fans can also expect to
pay through the nose for a beer like they do
at GM Place. The new renovations will cost
around $365 million.

The Whitecaps will play at BC Place
until the proposed waterfront soccer-specific
stadium can clear hurdles of red tape.
Political and bureaucratic obstacles include
ongoing negotiations with the Vancouver
Fraser Port Authority. The proposed stadium
would accommodate 20,000 initial seats and

could be expanded to include 10,000 more
seats. It boasts direct access to the Canada
Line as well as the sea bus. Fans will hope
that getting home from any games at the

proposed stadium will be relatively painless.

As any Vancouver Canucks fan can attest,
trying to get home on the SkyTrain after
a game can take an excruciating amount
of time and involve limitless strangers
invading one’s personal space.

The transition to the MLS will

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thoroughly test the Whitecaps’ ability to
compete at an improved level of play.
The Whitecaps have traditionally had few
problems signing high-quality talent in
the USL, but that facet of the organization
will be tested in the MLS. The Whitecaps
residency program, which trains youth
players in a fashion similar to youth
academies at big name clubs in Europe, will
be a key part of any success the team will
have in the MLS.

 

 

 

 

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