OT: 2019 Vancouver Whitecaps

[ginner classic]

They could bring in the most celebrated and knighted manager from the English Premiership and it wouldn't make one iota of difference to this sorry franchise in VanCity.

The hard reality is that the MLS is growing away from franchises in places like Vancouver, Portland, Salt Lake City and a number of other small NA markets. Once the MLS truly enters the major leagues, with budgets to match, there's a massive realignment ahead.

I'm almost at the point where I'd like to see a Canadian Professional Soccer League along the lines of the CFL. The really good Canadian players would still sign with the MLS or go overseas. But the travel budgets, salaries and stadium costs would be far more realistic and sustainable for Canadian franchises.

The league is not too big for Vancouver - that is complete tripe. There is massive potential in the city to support that team. They would be able to sell out the top bowl.

This is entirely an issue with ownership. They are in a tail spin right now and I don't know if they can recover it.

 

[ginner classic]

Nope. They can fire Lenarduzzi and overhaul the front office at any time. They're bringing in new scouts, which is fine, but Lenarduzzi is the problem. I'm not buying their 'changes' bs, and nobody else should until we see a concrete plan.

I did not renew after last season. The other 6 seats in my group just cancelled. They are going to feel the pain now.

 

[ginner classic]

I

I just heard from a season ticket holder that the 'Caps are waiving the usual September deadline for renewal. They're pushing it back to January, asking fans to be patient and wait to see the changes they'll be making.

Without new owners, nothing is going to change. Nobody will fall for it this time.

 

[crobro]

The impact just signed Bojan Krkic

 

[clunk]

The impact just signed Bojan Krkic

Very jealous.

 

[VanJack]

Vancouver desperately needs an open-air stadium like BMO Field in TO, which seats around 25,000 and sporting natural grass which soccer was meant to be played on. Sorry, but watching a game in B.C. Place Stadium is like sitting in a massive humidor.

Would such a stadium make a big difference to the Caps fortunes? Not much doubt about it. Just look at how the Vancouver Canadians pack them in for short-season, Class A baseball. And nobody is really too hung up about whether they win or lose, it's basically just the experience.

 

[MS]

Vancouver desperately needs an open-air stadium like BMO Field in TO, which seats around 25,000 and sporting natural grass which soccer was meant to be played on. Sorry, but watching a game in B.C. Place Stadium is like sitting in a massive humidor.

Would such a stadium make a big difference to the Caps fortunes? Not much doubt about it. Just look at how the Vancouver Canadians pack them in for short-season, Class A baseball. And nobody is really too hung up about whether they win or lose, it's basically just the experience.

The death of the waterfront stadium was the worst thing to ever happen to the franchise.

 

[Hit the post]

They can play at Wembley Stadium but with cheap owners, it won't make any difference. It'll just mean more money for the owners to stick in their wallets.

 

[VanJack]

The death of the waterfront stadium was the worst thing to ever happen to the franchise.

Granted, but that didn't need to be the end of it. It was a long-shot from the beginning that the Port of Vancouver would ever agree to tie up valuable port land in a stadium. But for Kerfoot and the Whitecaps owners it was the waterfront stadium or bust, and they were looking for concessions from everybody. And the last time I looked, BMO Field isn't anywhere near the TO waterfront.

Why couldn't the Whitecaps work with either UBC or SFU to locate a stadium like this on one of their campuses? Then it could be used as a venue for all kinds of other sports. Both campuses are served by transit, and soon Skytrain will run out to Point Grey.

Seems to me B.C. Place is an awful venue for any sport that takes place in the summertime, which is virtually the only time Vancouverites even want to watch a game outdoors.

 

[MS]

They can play at Wembley Stadium but with cheap owners, it won't make any difference. It'll just mean more money for the owners to stick in their wallets.

If they were playing outdoors in the summer in a beautiful new stadium near the water they would probably sell out a 25k stadium with a team that lost every game. As mentioned above, the Vancouver Canadians pack out 6500 people for 40 home games/year.

 

[MS]

Granted, but that didn't need to be the end of it. It was a long-shot from the beginning that the Port of Vancouver would ever agree to tie up valuable port land in a stadium. But for Kerfoot and the Whitecaps owners it was the waterfront stadium or bust, and they were looking for concessions from everybody. And the last time I looked, BMO Field isn't anywhere near the TO waterfront.

Why couldn't the Whitecaps work with either UBC or SFU to locate a stadium like this on one of their campuses? Then it could be used as a venue for all kinds of other sports. Both campuses are served by transit, and soon Skytrain will run out to Point Grey.

Seems to me B.C. Place is an awful venue for any sport that takes place in the summertime, which is virtually the only time Vancouverites even want to watch a game outdoors.

No argument. BC Place should have been demolished at the same time as its cousin in Seattle, almost 20 years ago. It's good for the boat show and that's about it.

 

[Hit the post]

If they were playing outdoors in the summer in a beautiful new stadium near the water they would probably sell out a 25k stadium with a team that lost every game. As mentioned above, the Vancouver Canadians pack out 6500 people for 40 home games/year.

I don't doubt that; I only question how much "trickle down economics" will work itself down to the team's payroll vs Kerfoot, Luczo, Mallett, and Nash [like he needs it] platinum retirement plans.

 

[crobro]

The whitecaps owners are too cheap to buy name recognition DP players but somehow will pool together 400 million to build a small stadium ?

The caps have a golden deal with bc place by just renting it out

The caps are not burdened right now with a stadium debt there is no excuse why the caps can’t spend big on players.

 

[Jyrki21]

. And the last time I looked, BMO Field isn't anywhere near the TO waterfront.

Not sure if serious... the only thing between BMO Field and the waves of Lake Ontario is the stadium parking lot and one street. It’s as close to a waterfront venue as you can get in Toronto.

 

[trellaine201]

The death of the waterfront stadium was the worst thing to ever happen to the franchise.

Wow that would have been awesome !

 

[clunk]

So, apparently the Caps were close to getting AJH (Jackson-Hamel) from the Impact but the deal didn't go through because the Caps weren't willing to pay the rest of the salary owed to AJH for the 2019 season:



This was AJH's salary for this season:



Wtf is going on when the club can't even pay what, $50,000-$60,000 at most? to bring in a proven MLS striker?

Seriously. They nixed the deal because they didn't want to pay under $100,000 for his salary. Think about that.

 

[JianYang]

I heard someone on the radio explain it perfectly.

BC place is technically "open air", but it feels more like a moonroof, rather than a top down convertible.

If you are going to have a retractable roof, you want the "convertible" experience.

It looks like it only took about 8 years to start complaining about BC place again, on a mainstream level anyways. Obviously, 8 years is not worth the more than half billion invested in the renovations.

 

[Rocko604]

Timbers Army was singing "Build a Bonfire" around the 20th minute. If the Southsiders tried doing this, there would already be a press release and a press conference scheduled for tomorrow from Lenarduzzi et al. condemning the fans for singing it. Sekeres and Price would be losing their minds on twitter.

 

[garbageteam]

Vancouver has the second least valuable set of players in the league according to Major League Soccer 2019

Not far off from their low Forbes franchise ranking too. When you look at Atlanta or LA Galaxy/LAFC's rosters and then look at ours, it seriously looks like we are competing in completely different leagues. Now with rumors of Miami's team making huge splashes and signing the likes of Cavani, I worry this franchise will totally be left behind the bright lights of the major franchises in the future years with no signs of a turnaround.

 

[clunk]

Vancouver has the second least valuable set of players in the league according to Major League Soccer 2019

Not far off from their low Forbes franchise ranking too. When you look at Atlanta or LA Galaxy/LAFC's rosters and then look at ours, it seriously looks like we are competing in completely different leagues. Now with rumors of Miami's team making huge splashes and signing the likes of Cavani, I worry this franchise will totally be left behind the bright lights of the major franchises in the future years with no signs of a turnaround.

It absolutely needs new owners, and there's been a lot of speculation that they're just keeping wages and expenses low so they can sell the team, as it has a very cool 150 mil MLS slot evaluation, and that will continue to rise as the league grows. It's really annoying, but they can still make decent money, even with lower turnout. Albeit, we can make them hurt a bit more by not going to games/buying merch, they can also just sit on the club.

If Aquilini bought it, and say, spent even 20 mil/season on wages, (which is 1/4th pretty much of what he spends on player wages for the Canucks), we would be among the tops of the league according to this: MLS 2019 Cap Tracker. Add another what, 30~ mil to bring in some good, name level talent on transfers, and we would be sitting very pretty.

Francesco absolutely HAS to buy this team, imo, and I think he's shown interest in the past.

I also think the 'Francesco saves the Whitecaps' narrative would stroke his ego pretty hard after the recent failings and vitriol towards him with the Canucks.

 

[SeawaterOnIce]

I worry this franchise will totally be left behind the bright lights of the major franchises in the future years with no signs of a turnaround.

The Whitecaps are CPL bound and the owners are buying time before they sell. A bunch of Vancouver soccer fans know this. The lone attraction at home games will be seeing the oppositions stars. The funny thing is the person inside has let it be known that the org is blaming the NDP govt for killing Vancouver football interest by backing out of the Vancouver 2026 WC bid. Uh no...interest has died by signing no impact players and penny-pinching.

 

[vancityluongo]

 

[Just A Bit Outside]

About time.

 

[Jyrki21]

By all accounts he's not much more than a figurehead, and the poor direction is coming from higher up. It's a positive change, but probably not a drastic one, depending on who the "new chief of sporty stuff" or whatever is.

 

[Hit the post]

By all accounts he's not much more than a figurehead, and the poor direction is coming from higher up. It's a positive change, but probably not a drastic one, depending on who the "new chief of sporty stuff" or whatever is.

It's really no different with the Canucks with Linden no longer President. But at least the Canucks spend money.