It's Happening Again

I haven't been to Vancouver. Not yet, anyway. Despite covering soccer in the United States (and by MLS extension, Canada) for 20 years, a professional imperative to travel to British Columbia hasn't come up.

I hear Vancouver is beautiful. I hear the food is amazing. I'd love to make the trip. It seems very possible that very soon I'll be robbed of obvious soccer reasons to finally do it.

That's because the Vancouver Whitecaps appear to be dying. You probably know by now that the Whitecaps stadium situation is dire and that the club can't find a buyer thanks to rotten financials effected by said dire stadium situation. The 'Caps are caught in a loop that is now metastisizing into a death spiral^[1].

I can't say I have any particular insight into the situation in Vancouver. Since Pablo Maurer's piece at The Guardian dropped just a few days ago, whispers of semi-positive news are flitting up like ashes over a funeral pyre. It looks like there's an agreement for the club to play at BC Place in 2026, but it's unlikely that the fundemental problems facing the Whitecaps go away any time soon. We're probably in the miracle zone for saving the team's future in Vancouver.

Which, if you'll allow me to be indelicate, completely sucks balls. I'm a man of a few key, base beliefs that I'll carry with me to my grave: America is for everyone, money can't buy you happiness, the Yankees suck, and the relocation of sports franchise is an abomination in every case, without exception.

Just because a thing has happened often enough to be old hat for North American sports doesn't mean I have to like it.

I was there, on the radio, calling to task Anthony Precourt, Don Garber, and everyone else that had a role in the threatened move of the Columbus Crew to Austin back in 2017 and 2018. I happen to like Columbus and count a number of the soccer people there among my friends, but I would have used my platform on SiriusXM to scream bloody murder about Precourt's attempted abscondment even if I despised the place and the people.

What's right is right and ripping a team away from its fans is never right.

That doesn't mean I'm naive about the forces that have pushed the Whitecaps to the edge. I can't say with confidence that failure lies at the feet of any one person or group. Is Greg Kerfoot the bad guy here? Is it Don Garber? Or PavCo (the provincial Crown corporation^[2] that runs BC place)?

My cynical spidey sense is tingling, just a bit, around the idea that holding PavCo's feet to the fire (give us a good deal, or we'll take Vancouver's soccer team away) on the way to pushing the city to work out a sweetheart pact for the clut to build its own stadium^[3] is exactly the kind of brinksmanship I despise from people who control billions in assets while running a civic institution.

I can't say I know what resources the Whitecaps' ownership controls in the moment and it makes me uncomfortable to spend someone else's money (or argue they should suck up the losses to maintain the club in place); but surely it didn't have to come to this.

Garber, for his (read: MLS's) part, says MLS should take over managament of BC Place to help open up more revenue streams. That's a big request, but it does at least indicate the league's preference is to make an attempt keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver.

I keep thinking, in light of what the USL is trying to do with its contained pyramid and plans for pro/rel, if there's any soccer future where relocation can be eradicated. The phenomenon is a function of the league-forward version of pro sports that America birthed and cultivated, with franchises owned by businessmen and closed leagues maintaining strict control of membership.

USL might foster an environment more akin to European football, where moving a club is never an option. Instead, new clubs can launch to enter the pyramid at the bottom (negating the need for a club to move to give a town a team) and clubs who struggle financially can drop down and start over again rather than struggle with higher division economics.

That's just USL, though. MLS will always be MLS and I don't see their approach changing any time soon. If and when a club runs up against a problematic stadium situation, relocation will always be an option.

I was very impressed by San Diego's CONCACAF Champions Cup debut against Pumas on Tuesday night. SDFC's three late goals should mean advancing past UNAM and into the Round of 16. A showdown with Toluca will be a level more difficult, but it's very difficult not to be impressed with everything San Diego has down in such a short amount of time. Even more impressive that Tyler Heaps and Mikey Varas built a team that wins with the ball, rather than using some variation on high presssing-high octane soccer.

We did some good work on Morning Kickaround this week, including a chat with Jon Arnold about CCC. Check out Jon's work at Getting CONCACAFed.

Also, BIG ANNOUNCEMENT! We're doing a marathon live Morning Kickaround show on February 18th to help us take the next step in the growth of the show. Come by and check us out. We're lining up some very good guests, will play some games, and will generally shoot the shit about American soccer, which is clearly the best kind of soccer.

I went solo on The Best Soccer Show this week. If you're looking for my thoughts on Ricardo Pepi's aborted move to Fulham, Christian Pulisic's injury issues, Weston McKennie's situation at Juventus and fit in the USMNT, and Mauricio Pochettino's weird response to Tim Weah, give it a listen.