![\"\"\/](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/indicator-big.gif\")
<\/p>\nHe said the group was doing \u201cdue diligence\u201d and he understood that it would share more information soon about a bid that is \u201cgrounded in a plan to keep the team here.\u201d<\/p>\n
\t<\/p>\n
Kahlon, who is a longtime Whitecaps fan and season-ticket holder, said the group had contacted his office but wasn\u2019t seeking any help from the province.<\/p>\n
He said the potential bidders \u201cdo seem serious.\u201d <\/p>\n
A group led by billionaire businessman Grant Gustavson announced last week that it had submitted a bid to Major League Soccer to buy the Whitecaps that would include a privately financed, soccer-specific stadium in Las Vegas.<\/p>\n
Gustavson, 30, is the grandson of Public Storage co-founder B. Wayne Hughes and the son of billionaire Tamara Gustavson, one of the company\u2019s largest shareholders.<\/p>\n
While Kahlon said he did not have a time frame for the local bidders going public, \u201cI would say sooner would be better, because there\u2019s a lot of anxiety amongst Whitecaps fans that they want to see a local proponent come forward.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t speak to the proponents that are bidding for this process other than say that they seem very interested and they understand how important the club is for the province,\u201d he said, adding that if the team left Vancouver he \u201cdefinitely will not go to Vegas to watch.\u201d<\/p>\n
Multiple groups are believed to be exploring relocation options as MLS reviews the Whitecaps\u2019 future.<\/p>\n
The club has been up for sale since 2024, with ownership citing ongoing challenges tied to stadium control and revenue at its home stadium, B.C. Place, which is owned and operated by the province.<\/p>\n
\u201cOver the past 16 months, we have had serious conversations with more than 100 parties, and to date, no viable offer has emerged that would keep the club here,\u201d the Whitecaps said in a statement last week.<\/p>\n
This report by The Canadian Press was first published May 6, 2026.<\/p>\n
Wolfgang Depner, The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"He said the group was doing \u201cdue diligence\u201d and he understood that it would share more information soon…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":652583,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[879,49,48,2467,2461,2468,2460,2462,2463,44,2464,2465,2466,82,55],"class_list":["post-652582","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-breaking-news","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-central-vancouver-island","tag-nanaimo","tag-nanaimo-breaking-news","tag-nanaimo-news","tag-nanaimo-news-now","tag-nanaimonewsnow","tag-news","tag-oceanside","tag-parksville","tag-qualicum","tag-sports","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652582","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=652582"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/652582\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/652583"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=652582"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=652582"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=652582"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}