Does Major League Soccer Have a Vancouver Problem?
Does the MLS have a Vancouver problem? Increasingly, the answer appears to be yes.
The Vancouver Whitecaps ownership group’s lease with PayCo, a British Columbia provincial Crown corporation, expires at the end of December, and Major League Soccer Commissioner Don Garber is publicly pressuring PayCo to improve the terms. According to Garber, the Whitecaps’ owners are not getting anywhere near the stadium revenue needed to operate competitively or sustainably in today’s MLS landscape.
Garber did not mince words. “The club isn’t sustainable in a situation where they’re in a building which they have no control over, they have minimal participation with revenue. The biggest issue is the lack of schedule flexibility,” he said. The Whitecaps are missing out on essential revenue from concessions, and the team regularly loses access to needed dates because of other events. In 2024, an MLS playoff game that was slated to be played in Vancouver had to be moved entirely because the venue was already booked—forcing the Vancouver-Portland matchup to be relocated to Portland.
Ownership Pressures and Stadium Challenges
PayCo responded by insisting they want to keep Whitecaps games in the stadium, issuing a statement describing “productive discussions” with club ownership. But the story behind the scenes is more complicated. The Whitecaps ownership quietly put the franchise up for sale nearly a year ago, signaling deeper concerns about long-term stability. At the same time, the ownership group began speaking with Vancouver city officials about the possibility of constructing a soccer-specific stadium—something MLS has favored for decades.
BC Place, Vancouver’s existing stadium, seats 55,000 people and is 42 years old. It is currently undergoing yet another renovation, in part because the venue will host seven FIFA Men’s World Cup games in 2026. Since FIFA does not choose outdated or poorly maintained venues for its marquee events, the upgrades are substantial. A new “premium hospitality” area is expected to generate a fresh revenue stream, raising questions about whether improved financial terms might now be possible for the Whitecaps.
Garber’s Mission: Better Venues and Better Deals
A commissioner’s job is to advocate for stronger venues and better lease agreements for every franchise, and Garber has made that clear in Vancouver’s case. With MLS growing rapidly and club valuations climbing, teams need full access to stadium revenues to keep pace. Whether that happens at BC Place—or in a new stadium altogether—may determine the future of the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
Evan Weiner’s books are available at iTunes – https://books.apple.com/us/author/evan-weiner/id595575191
Evan can be reached at evan_weiner@hotmail.com
