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Whitecaps officials met with the province, local Indigenous leaders, the federal government and a top official from MLS on Wednesday to discuss the team’s future at B.C. Place and beyond
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Published May 13, 2026 • Last updated 3 hours ago • 3 minute read
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Vancouver Whitecaps supporters rally to keep the team in Vancouver, outside the Vancouver Convention Centre which is hosting the FIFA Congress, in Vancouver on April 30, 2026. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNGArticle content
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The meeting on Wednesday afternoon at a downtown hotel featuring senior figures from the Vancouver Whitecaps, the provincial government, Major League Soccer and local First Nations is being called “very positive.”
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That’s according to Wayne Sparrow, longtime chief of the Musqueam Nation, who was at the meeting.
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“Good to have everyone in the room,” he said Wednesday evening over the phone. “It was very positive. Everyone committed to finding a solution.”
Sparrow was short on details but indicated the discussions looked at both short term and long term solutions for the club, which included the Whitecaps’ current relationship with B.C. Place Stadium. A statement would be released Thursday, he said.
Among those in attendance, according to Daily Hive’s Har Johal, were Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster and co-owner Jeff Mallett, as well as Ravi Kahlon, minister of jobs and economic growth, Gregor Robertson, former mayor of Vancouver but now federal minister of housing and infrastructure, plus MLS executive vice-president Charles Altchek and representatives from the Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish nations.
Altchek had met with B.C. Premier David Eby on Tuesday as well, two weeks after a pair of meetings between MLS commissioner Don Garber and Eby.
Premier David Eby speaks at B.C. Place, in front of the freshly-installed natural grass playing surface, during a press conference on Tuesday. Photo by NICK PROCAYLO /PNG
It’s been understood that the Whitecaps would like to take on management of B.C. Place Stadium, as the club believes it can help PavCo, the Crown corporation which runs the stadium, find greater efficiencies in how the stadium is run and also expand the value of sponsorship deals tied to the team and presumably the stadium.
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The involvement of the Indigenous groups is interesting, as a source confirmed that there have been past expressions of interest from at least Musqueam in buying a stake in the team. There have also been several recent meetings between the team and representatives of the three nations.
Musqueam isn’t the only group that has inquired about investing or buying the team outright: Schuster has told the media that over the past year or so just over 30 groups have expressed interest in buying at least a stake in the team but have backed away after taking a look at the team’s finances.
A source suggested recently that the Whitecaps believe that finding stability at B.C. Place over the next five to 10 years would win the club time to properly develop their own stadium and when they have such a plan in place, investors would return to the table.
If a deal is struck for the Caps to stay at B.C. Place for the time being, that would end all talk of the team being a target for relocation. Two weeks ago, just before the FIFA Congress here in Vancouver, word leaked out that MLS owners had discussed at a recent meeting the reality that the Whitecaps may have to move. That was followed by the Las Vegas Review-Journal revealing that there was at least one suitor with ambitions to bring the team to Las Vegas, though several sources cast doubt that they were truly in a position to move the team to Las Vegas as soon as next year.
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Over the past five years or so, league expenses have increased dramatically but the Whitecaps’ revenues have remained relatively flat; the team is now in the top five of salaries, a change from their past trend of being mid-table at best in player expenditures.
Earlier on Wednesday, the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade revealed that hundreds of local businesses, big and small, had signed on to an open letter committing themselves to helping the Whitecaps find ways to bridge the revenue gap that Schuster has indicated was as large as $40 million.
“The overwhelming response we’ve seen in just a few days shows that the private sector is ready to be a constructive partner and discuss how we can step up to ensure, we are protecting a vital economic engine that fuels our downtown core,” Bridgitte Anderson, President and CEO of the Greater Vancouver Board of Trade, said in a statement.
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