Whitecaps belong in Vancouver, period

Rothenberg, ever the pragmatist, said that the town wasn’t quite ready, that there was no suitable place for the team to play and that perhaps down the road, Las Vegas would get a team.

In the meantime, we’ve had minor league outdoor and indoor soccer teams while MLS grew and grew and grew in what critics have called commissioner Don Garber’s constant expansion “a Ponzi scheme.”

And the American soccer audience has changed since MLS launched in 1996. What used to be the domain of the ethnic residents who brought their love of the game with them from the country them emigrated from along with the suburban soccer families of the 1980s in the old North American Soccer League days has given way to Gen-Z’ers who are college educated, have enough discretionary income at their disposal, are well versed in social media skills and follow the sport with the same fanaticism you’ll find in England, in Germany, in Spain and Italy. For them, both men and women, many who grew up playing soccer as kids, it's a cool thing to attach their social lives to.  

You put the Whitecaps in Vegas or Phoenix and they’ll turn out. They’ll find a way to pay the exorbitant prices MLS charges — the average ticket price for an MLS match in 2026 is close to $50. Of course, that’s dirt cheap in comparison to what FIFA is charging to attend the World Cup in June.

Ironically, attendance is not an issue in Vancouver. The Whitecaps, who are highly competitive on the pitch (they’re in second place in the Western Conference, two points out of first), are doing well at the turnstiles. Vancouver, which plays in the cavernous, charm-lacking, 54,000-seat B.C. Place Stadium, is averaging 24,189 this season, ranking 10th in the 30-team MLS.

The problem? The team’s lease is expiring and it may not have a place to play in the future. The Whitecaps appeared to have a deal to build a new home on the grounds of the Hastings Racecourse thoroughbred track located at the Pacific National Exhibition grounds. But that may or may not happen despite a signed Memorandum of Understanding between the team and the city.  

There aren’t many other options available. Empire Stadium, where the original Whitecaps called home, was gone decades ago. The team has been up for sale for almost two years and the current ownership may sell the team and have it relocate to here or possibly to Phoenix. The problem with that is neither Las Vegas nor Phoenix have a soccer-specific stadium currently available to accommodate the Whitecaps.

From a business perspective, that’s a major issue. Could the team play at Allegiant Stadium or in Glendale at the Cardinals’ State Farm Stadium? Sure, in the interim that would probably work. But the team would not share in any of the revenue streams that the Raiders and Cardinals currently enjoy as the landlords of their respective facilities. And if that’s the case, how could a soccer team generate enough revenue to be profitable?

You have to own your own stadium or arena. That’s how it works in professional sports in the second quarter of the 21st Century. It’s why NBA commissioner Adam Silver has not lauded T-Mobile Arena as a home for a Las Vegas expansion franchise even though it’s perfectly fine and will be undergoing a $300 million facelift in the near future. The NHL’s Golden Knights are the primary tenants and majority owner Bill Foley benefits from most, if not all the revenue streams that come with playing at T-Mobile.

Silver knows the business side of sports. He knows that the NBA team which owns its own arena gets to control most of, if not all the revenue streams, which in turn gives it the best chance to be financially successful. It’s why the proposed NBA arena projects keep popping up all over town.  

Now, if Foley winds up being awarded the NBA Las Vegas franchise, that changes everything. Much like the move made by Samantha Holloway, who heads the group that owns the Seattle Kraken and Climate Pledge Arena. If her group gets awarded the NBA’s Seattle expansion franchise and marks the return of the SuperSonics, it will fall under one huge umbrella as One Roof Sports and Entertainment will own both teams and share the revenues.

It’s going to ultimately take whoever gets the Whitecaps the task of building an MLS-specific soccer stadium, one that seats between 25,000 to 30,000 and allows the team to benefit from the naming rights, luxury boxes, club seating, parking, concessions and the like.

Apparently, that's the plan as Grant Gustavson and his family have reached out to MLS as potential owners of the Whitecaps. Gustavson's mother Tamara is the largest shareholder of Public Storage and whose worth is estimated to be $8.6 billion. Her father, B. Wayne Hughes, is the founder of Public Storage. Their plan is to build a soccer stadium in Las Vegas for the team to play in. Grant Gustavson lives in Las Vegas and is heading a group of potential buyers.

Sadly, that could’ve happened here a while back. When UNLV opted out of Sam Boyd Stadium to play its home football games at Allegiant Stadium, it left a facility that could’ve been converted into an MLS soccer stadium. There was a plan that would have widened the pitch, replace the artificial turf with natural grass, had canopies cover much of the stands with a misting system so fans wouldn’t bake in the summer heat, have locker rooms rebuilt and put chair back seats in a good portion of the stadium.

Yes, the cost would have been in the tens of millions but it would have been far cheaper than building a new stadium from scratch. Plus, there were practice fields behind the stadium that a Las Vegas MLS team could’ve utilized for training. It could’ve been home to the team’s academy used to develop future players. Most of all, residents had been accustomed of traveling to Sam Boyd Stadium for decades and their familiarity with the site would have made it work.

But it never came to pass. The university sold the stadium and the land to Clark County in June 2025 and it’s headed for the wrecking ball — hey, maybe Bruce Springsteen can write a song about it! Oh wait. He did.

So whoever MLS deems worthy of owning the Whitecaps, whether it's the Gustavson family or some other group, and it moves the team, they better be prepared to shell out the $1 billion to $2 billion it'll cost to build the new stadium from scratch. It’s the only way it’ll work, be it here in Las Vegas or in Phoenix, which is watching its former NHL team that it got from Winnipeg, mind you, compete in this year’s Stanley Cup Playoffs as the Utah Mammoth.

I have a better idea for MLS and Garber. Stay in British Columbia, where you are loved and supported well and find a way to remain the Vancouver Whitecaps. Find local ownership that is committed to keeping the team there. Get the Hastings site developed and built. Or find another suitable location in the greater Vancouver area.  

The community deserves to keep its soccer team. We here in Las Vegas will survive with the Golden Knights, the Raiders, the Aces, the A’s, UNLV and whatever our future NBA team its called. If MLS wants to expand to Southern Nevada, fine. We'll deal with it then. But let's stop taking other cities' teams to boost our own sporting image. Being Vegas Born should mean something. Just ask Bill Foley.