VANCOUVER \u2014 The City of Vancouver has selected a group led by Vancouver real estate developer Zack Ross as its preferred partner to pursue a Major League Baseball expansion franchise.<\/p>\n
Ross, president of Vancouver real estate developer Cape Group, leads The Show Vancouver, a group formed to bring an MLB team to the city. <\/p>\n
The group is proposing a new ballpark and mixed-use development, although no site has been announced and it has not disclosed the estimated cost of the project or provided figures on its projected economic impact.<\/p>\n
Mayor Ken Sim launched an expression-of-interest process this spring seeking a qualified ownership group with the financial capacity and experience to advance an MLB bid.<\/p>\n
MLB commissioner Rob Manfred told Sportsnet in October that another Canadian city in the league could work, when he was asked about adding a team in Vancouver.<\/p>\n
The league has not announced plans to expand, although Manfred has previously said he hopes MLB will grow from 30 to 32 teams before his planned retirement in 2029.<\/p>\n
The city says council has directed staff to enter a memorandum of understanding with The Show Vancouver to establish the collaboration framework, \u201cincluding due diligence for potential ballpark sites.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cTSV will be responsible for all costs and financial risks associated with preparing and advancing its MLB bid,\u201d the city said.<\/p>\n
Ross said in a news release that the proposal is centred on the new ballpark development, but the release did not outline how the project would be financed.<\/p>\n
BC Place Stadium hosted several Major League Baseball exhibition series between 1984 and 1994, featuring the Toronto Blue Jays<\/a>, Seattle Mariners<\/a> and Montreal Expos. <\/p>\n However, a $500-million renovation completed in 2011, including a centre-hung scoreboard and cable-supported retractable roof, eliminated the stadium\u2019s ability to host baseball.<\/p>\n The Show Vancouver is partnering with BRS Sports, a sports marketing and analytics company, whose principals include former NHL executive Jac Sperling, sports venue consultant Tim Romani and Denver real estate executive Ray Baker.<\/p>\n The group said it has retained ballpark architecture firm Populous, project management firm CAA Icon and architecture and design firm Gensler to help develop the proposal.<\/p>\n The group\u2019s announcement included endorsements from Greater Vancouver Board of Trade president Bridgitte Anderson and former B.C. premier Mike Harcourt.<\/p>\n Vancouver is currently home to the Vancouver Canadians, the Blue Jays\u2019 single-A affiliate, which plays at the 6,500-seat Nat Bailey Stadium.<\/p>\n This report by The Canadian Press was first published July 29, 2026.<\/p>\n The Canadian Press<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"VANCOUVER \u2014 The City of Vancouver has selected a group led by Vancouver real estate developer Zack Ross…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":835681,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194298],"tags":[49,48,17128,82,55],"class_list":["post-835680","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-vancouver","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-prairies-bc","tag-sports","tag-vancouver"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835680","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=835680"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/835680\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/835681"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=835680"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=835680"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=835680"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}