Whitecaps, City of Vancouver signal settlement on pursuing new stadium

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps are transferring ahead with plans to construct a brand new stadium on the jap fringe of town. 

The Major League Soccer membership and the City of Vancouver introduced Thursday that they’ve signed a memorandum of understanding to discover a brand new stadium and leisure district at Hastings Park. 

The deal is not approval for a brand new venture, stated Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, however a framework for negotiations. 

“It’s really up to the Whitecaps and if they have future partners to come up with a plan that makes sense,” he said. “And then they’ll present that to council and there’ll be a lot of opportunities to go through a public hearing and make sure it works in the context of our city and the region.”

Over the following yr, town and the Whitecaps will try to barter a long-term lease that may see town preserve possession of the land. A design for the stadium may even be put ahead, together with the monetary phrases and neighborhood advantages of the venture. 

It will probably be as much as the Whitecaps and their companions to finance the plan, Sim stated. 

The dimension of the stadium and what else will probably be included within the leisure district stays to be seen, stated Whitecaps chief government officer and sporting director Axel Schuster.

“Now that an settlement has been signed, the group will search for companions and attempt to decide how a lot house they want, what they need to do with any further house, and make the venture financially sustainable, he stated. 

“We’re looking at something that makes sense,” Schuster stated. 

“It’s a lot of work. For that reason, it’s impossible to give a precise answer on any of that.”

The group’s present possession group put the Whitecaps on the market final December and Schuster has lengthy stated that securing a brand new stadium is vital to attracting a purchaser or investor who will preserve the membership in Vancouver.

“When we introduced one yr in the past that this membership was up on the market, I informed everybody this isn’t an finish, it is a starting. A starting of one thing new we need to develop, one thing new we need to construct in Vancouver,” he stated. 

Signing a brand new settlement with town represents progress, Schuster added.

“It’s a little step, a little step that we are working forward, that a step is done, a foundation is built and that we have great partners on our side. And then I have to ask again for patience,” he said, noting that the next steps will take time. “And now we go back to work.”

Sim — an avowed Whitecaps fan who was in Florida to look at Vancouver face Inter Miami within the MLS Cup final weekend — was much more forceful in regards to the impression the brand new settlement would have on the group’s future.

“Yes, there are interested parties that would like to buy the Whitecaps. There are interested parties who want to take the Whitecaps out of the city of Vancouver,” he said. “If we do not create an environment, or if there’s no opportunity to have your own stadium where you have your concessions and the economics around it, there is no viable option for anyone who wants to keep the Whitecaps in the city of Vancouver.”

The Whitecaps presently play at B.C. Place, a 55,000-seat stadium in downtown Vancouver that’s owned by PavCo, a Provincial Crown company, although their present lease expires on the finish of the month. 

Both the Whitecaps and MLS commissioner Don Garber have spoken out in regards to the group’s present lease in latest months, saying it is not sustainable as a result of there is a lack of scheduling flexibility and the membership receives restricted income from meals and beverage gross sales. 

The Whitecaps are merely asking for a “fair deal,” Schuster stated. 

“I’m very satisfied that we’ve affordable and convincing arguments on our facet to get to a good resolution,” he stated. 

Sim known as on the provincial authorities to supply the group a bridge deal whereas work on a brand new stadium will get underway.

“We are asking the provincial government to step up and get a deal done with the Vancouver Whitecaps and look at the long term,” he said. “Because I can tell you, if I put my business owners hat on, the economics just don’t work.”

Any value to the province underneath a revised deal could be offset by different financial advantages, together with tax income, the mayor stated. 

PavCo issued a press release Thursday saying it stays “engaged in productive discussions” with the Whitecaps a few lease renewal. 

“Any discussion about the current agreement — or the new agreement — should be looked at in totality, factoring in not just revenue but also operational costs and capital investments,” the assertion stated. 

“The present settlement affords a number of income alternatives for the Whitecaps, but the membership doesn’t contribute to or assume the danger for the overwhelming majority of its matchday prices, which might be 100 per cent their duty in a stadium they personal. 

“While we are proud to remain the current home of the Vancouver Whitecaps, the reality is that our partnership with the team is, for us, more about supporting a very valued community partner than financial profit. We have always done our best to prioritize the Whitecaps, often over more profitable events.”

The settlement between the Whitecaps and the City of Vancouver comes days after Hastings Racecourse, a thoroughbred racing outfit at Hastings Park, introduced it was shutting down efficient instantly. 

“Unfortunately, this is strictly a business decision based on a lack of economic feasibility to move forward with another season of horse racing at Hastings,” Wayne Odegard, regional vp of Great Canadian Entertainment, stated in a press release.

There are presently no horses stabled at Hastings Racecourse as a result of the racing season runs from April to October.

The timing of the monitor’s closure and the announcement of town’s settlement with the Whitecaps are usually not linked, Sim stated. 

“These things just don’t happen overnight. We’ve been talking (to the Whitecaps) for almost a year now,” he stated.

“Horse racing has been a declining industry for a very long time, not just in the city of Vancouver but across the continent. This is really just a coincidence.” 

The City stated in a launch that the brand new settlement doesn’t impression the Tsleil-Waututh Nation’s settlement to buy the on line casino portion of Hastings Racecourse, and the use will not be opposed by the Whitecaps. 

The Whitecaps have lengthy had “very, very strong connections and partnerships” with the native First Nations and that may proceed as talks a few new stadium progress, Schuster stated.