{"id":630207,"date":"2026-04-26T17:17:10","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:17:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/630207\/"},"modified":"2026-04-26T17:17:10","modified_gmt":"2026-04-26T17:17:10","slug":"hands-off-our-whitecaps-vancouver-fans-make-big-statement-as-relocation-fears-intensify-daily-hive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/630207\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Hands off our Whitecaps’: Vancouver fans make big statement as relocation fears intensify | Daily Hive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Vancouver Whitecaps fans showed up in a big way on Saturday.<\/p>\n

Not just in terms of attendance, as an announced crowd of 27,589 packed BC Place for a lower-bowl sellout. But in the last Whitecaps home match before FIFA takes over the stadium for the next three months, the fans made a statement.<\/p>\n

The march to the match was enormous, as fans held up signs saying \u201cSave the Caps.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"whitecaps<\/p>\n

Whitecaps fans begin the march to the match on Granville St. (Vancouver Whitecaps FC)<\/p>\n

They\u2019re urging anyone that\u2019ll listen that the Whitecaps belong in Vancouver.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe see you. Thank you, Vancouver,\u201d the Whitecaps official account posted on social media.<\/p>\n

If you were in the building on Saturday, it\u2019s mind-numbing how someone hasn\u2019t figured out a way to make this work.<\/p>\n

The Whitecaps have been for sale for nearly a year and a half. We\u2019re still waiting for a new prospective owner to step forward publicly with a plan to save them.<\/p>\n

Relocation fears are beginning to intensify, as the vultures swirl above. Las Vegas is building a new stadium with designs of an MLS team to fill it.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a part to play in this,\u201d Vancouver Southsiders board member Wyatt Tierney told Daily Hive prior to Saturday\u2019s match<\/a>. \u201cThe Whitecaps are a community organization first. They bring people together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe know that fan action works,\u201d he said. \u201cIf we get out there, we mobilize, we action, we as a community, as a city, we know the \u2018Caps are not going to go anywhere.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"vancouver<\/p>\n

Fans hold up \u201cSave the Caps\u201d signs before the match (Simon Fearn\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

Inside BC Place, the fan support was outstanding, as it has been for most of the Whitecaps\u2019 time in Vancouver. Established in 1974, the Whitecaps entered MLS in 2011.<\/p>\n

Saturday\u2019s match against the Colorado Rapids was their 19th straight match with over 20,000 in attendance. The team ranks third in MLS average attendance this season \u2014 the club apparently not hurt by a front-loaded home schedule due to the FIFA World Cup.<\/p>\n

Led by the Southsiders<\/a>, fans were loud. Fans in the supporters sections and elsewhere held up signs saying \u201cSave the Caps.\u201d A large banner held up before the game said it best: \u201cHands off our Whitecaps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Multiple \u201cSave the Caps\u201d chants rang out through the crowd.<\/p>\n

\"vancouver<\/p>\n

Whitecaps fans send a message: \u201cHands off our Whitecaps\u201d (Simon Fearn\/Imagn Images)<\/p>\n

We won\u2019t see the Whitecaps on the pitch at BC Place again until Aug. 1, as the club prepares to play nine straight road games \u2014 five in May before the FIFA World Cup break and another four in July.<\/p>\n

They\u2019ll do so as arguably the best team in Major League Soccer, with eight wins in nine matches this season.<\/p>\n

Vancouver won again on Saturday, putting the boots to Colorado with a 3-1 victory.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe atmosphere in here was electric today, it really animated the players\u2026 We are very happy for the support we\u2019ve got so far this season and we\u2019ve responded on the pitch,\u201d said Whitecaps head coach Jesper S\u00f8rensen said post-game.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe way the support has grown over the years, to see 27,000 fans in the stand shows what this club means to the city and to the people,\u201d added Whitecaps striker Brian White, who is in his sixth season with the club. \u201cIt means a lot to us to have their support week in and week out. They were huge for us tonight, it wasn\u2019t an easy game by any means, and having them push us through those tough moments in the game really got us to the end.\u201d<\/p>\n

Whitecaps centre back Tristan Blackmon echoed those statements.<\/p>\n

\u201cThey were incredible. I just saw on my phone that it was sold out, and it felt like that,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019ve been so good to us, especially this year and at the end of last year we saw everybody showing up and showing out for us when we were making the playoff push.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis year so far it\u2019s been incredible, the support we\u2019ve got from the community, and we\u2019ve definitely felt that, especially today. If you were out there you felt the environment being super impactful in the game, and we felt every single fan today.\u201d<\/p>\n

You might also like:Diehard Vancouver Whitecaps fans spearheading a movement to save the team<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Vancouver Whitecaps fans showed up in a big way on Saturday. Not just in terms of attendance, as…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":630208,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,55],"class_list":["post-630207","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630207","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=630207"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/630207\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/630208"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=630207"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=630207"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=630207"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}