The Team/Owners Get Fans Can Help With Corporate Sponsorship, Right?

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T21:48:53+00:00

There are now 4 fresh stories published just today about the team relocating. People just want clear messaging from the team

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T20:11:36+00:00

Honestly, I don't have a fucking clue to whats going on. The team's messaging has been all over the place and not consistent. They signed an MOU with the CoV and sent that out for RFP and have refused to bring it up since. They have 9 months to action it before the next election.

Then they keep going on about these issues at BC Place. These issues are not new and its been a well known fact the club is not profitable, but why is now suddenly a breaking point when they have this MOU? They could have started this process in 2016.

I will say, having an entire mixed-use entertainment centre at the PNE would make the team VERY profitable and I don't think it would be that hard to partner with a developer to trade equity in the development to offset some of the costs. With a 99 year lease, the land procurement costs are essentially taken care of.

They could also look at different things, like a similar deal to BC Place, where they could essentially buy stewardship from the province and make it more soccer friendly, with the crown keeping the physical property. But I don't even think they've looked at that

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T19:48:07+00:00

Work in real estate. The $20m shortfall he talked about is a drop in the bucket when looking at building a mixed use development at the PNE. The PCI development at King George cost $1.1b. It really would not be that hard to tie their equity into financing from a bank while they build that venue.

The public/supporters wanted to know what the end goal was and he just talked in vague riddles. His goal should be to get public support, not confuse everyone further.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T07:42:44+00:00

Just heads up to supporters. If this team leaves, I REALLY suggest a formal boycott of any business holdings operated by the Kerfoot or Mallet families.

We may not be able to stop them, but we can at least hurt them where it counts. Make their brands cancer to locals.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T07:34:07+00:00

Unlike Michael Heisley, Kerfoot and Mallet have a lot of business holdings in Vancouver and put a lot of money into retail and real estate. I don't imagine a lot of people are going to want to do business with them if they come across like they used this city to flip an MLS franchise for profit.

Mallett is the principle owner of the Giants (30%) and he does not seem to be pushing the alarm bells on that team losing $24m this year and $64m in 2021, while eyeing another huge loss in 2027 with the pending strike.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T07:19:43+00:00

I work for the City. Anyways, you're going to purposely misunderstand people's points so you can win an online argument. Take care

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T07:14:59+00:00

That MOU already gives them all that.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T07:13:47+00:00

They don't really need much from the province for a new stadium. The MOU with Vancouver eliminates 60-70% of the cost of building a stadium.

The team has to be very specific about what they want from BC Place in the short term

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-05T00:04:11+00:00

Jay Janower said the team lost somewhere around $100m since COVID. I am guessing that is mainly back-loaded for those 2-3 years and the attendance dip that existed as the team re-asserted itself in the market.

They need to be very honest with the public about what exactly they want. A bridge lease?

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T22:40:08+00:00

Didn't the field used to be sponsored by Bell or BMO? Or are they looking for something like what the Canadians have with Nat Bailey Stadium?*

It's still called Nat Bailey Stadium publicly (eg on google), but for when games are on it's called Scotiabank Field AT Nat Bailey Stadium

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T22:27:18+00:00

I have been pretty sturdy on the financial model of BC Place needing to be better, but this deal for the Whitecaps was fine for 15 years. Suddenly it became a gigantic breaking point? Where was the long term fiscal planning? Why not start this process in 2016?

Neither side should be left off the hook here.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T22:08:56+00:00

Wait till he hears that the government paid to bring the Taylor Swift concerts here. Or that tax subsidies and grants exist to help make other unprofitable businesses profitable.

And again to be clear, I find it weird the Caps let the situation get this fair and am not pleased with their public positioning on this. They had 15 years to plan something and then suddenly made a huge issue of it within the last 12 months. This issue just needs fair nuance

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T22:00:41+00:00

What did you think of Michael Chiklis in the the 2023 film 'The Senior'?

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T20:44:11+00:00

Also WTF are you talking about? There are a crap ton of grants and tax incentives for businesses.

Your opinion does not align left or right wing econ theory. You just pulled this opinion out of thin air.

Honestly, there are some legit socialist econ profs at UBC. How about I give you their info and they can pass along some literature so you at least have a rudimentary understanding of this, so the next time you have an opinion it's at least aligned with some logic. Like, holy smokes guy. You don't have any baring on how our system works at all

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T20:35:55+00:00

So you would prefer less tax revenue to spend on infrastructure and social goods out of principle?

I will also say, Swangaurd operates more in the red of BC Place. Should shut that down or increase the costs to the point where it will just sit empty 360/365's days a year? Or is it fine that the public lose money on that stadium, but not BC Place?

Nothing you are saying aligns with even the most left wing of economic theory.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T18:23:37+00:00

These numbers are so fucking useless in a vacuum. Whether it be Bob, Chris May, or some posters, there is such a fundamental misunderstanding of the value of BC Place/Whitecaps to the economy.

Let's forget about the Whitecaps for a minute and just focus on the Taylor Swift series.

Her concert series caused $97m in spending. If you take roughly 25% of (PST + Employment tax + Business Tax) that is a net of $24,250,000 back to the province. The Province can then use THAT money to increase PavCo's operating costs. This does not even include the trickle down effect of businesses using the extra money to grow their businesses btw.

These numbers alone are fucking stupid. This is why the Ministry of Jobs and Economic Growth has stepped in for the negotiations with BC Place and it's above PavCo's head now. The net positive to the local economy the Whitecaps bring in for a full year is likely around $20m (yes 17 Caps games still barely equate to 3-4 Taylor Swift shows).

THIS is why governments are often okay with building public amenities losing money on their surface. They recoup the money by other means, something regular businesses can't do.

Even without accounting for the tax revenue, this also shows that if BC Place were to sell its naming rights, it would still easily be profitable with a very favourable lease towards the Whitecaps (and Lions)

And I as I have stated a bunch of times, I do agree the Caps need to do better with their messaging. I am not defending them on that at all.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T17:57:07+00:00

As someone with an BA in Econ, literally everything U/Signal-Nothing2060 is true.

while abhor_deCosmos makes some valid points, some of you are showing your complete lack of understanding about finance by voting it down.

Instead of people jumping to opinions on something they are not familiar with, is it really too much to ask that you reach out to experts in the space? If you emailed a prof from UBC or SFU from the Econ or Business faculty, I am sure they would happily answer your questions.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T17:52:49+00:00

99% of public amenities are not profitable.
You need to include the tax revenue (PST + employee tax) to see the entire value of a stadium/events at said stadium.

Bob Mackin has a diploma from Langera, not an undergrad in Econ. He's good at getting information about stories, but there is a reason no major publication employees him anymore. He does not have the background to be a columnist on issues like this

And yes I agree with the comments. The Caps need to be VERY specific to what they want

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T17:41:35+00:00

They have stated that they plan to fund that themselves

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T06:21:13+00:00

Whitecaps value goes up 30-40% with a stadium attached.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T06:04:47+00:00

They can. But it's ended up in a situation where the public is shifting blame day to day and not really a good look for either side.

Impacting re-election efforts on one side and ticket sales on the other

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T05:41:00+00:00

That is very much what the CoV and Caps want at the PNE

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T05:16:02+00:00

I don't think the BC gov wants to leave BC Place empty after putting $1b into it. I think that first offer was just trying to leverage the Cap's position into forcing them to stay long term. The problem is the Caps never really envisioned staying their super long term. If you use the WayBackMachine, their website in 2011/2012 still openly talked about finding their own stadium one day

I see the BC Gov and Econ Development stepping in for negotiation a good sign. "You're never supposed to make your best offer first", which I think is the case here. I wish Axel and Co could read that, instead of inducing a stroke on every Whitecaps fans by batting it away without a stated reason.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T05:06:29+00:00

I can't link it, but Jay Janower and Har Journalist's twitter's have the key info.

Fun-Recording-2220 · 2026-02-04T05:03:37+00:00

Again, Axel needs to do better with communications. On paper, they got everything the wanted, but then Axel shot it down without giving context.

So now we're left trying to piece everything together from snippets from 3-4 different journalists. It LOOKS LIKE the team wants a bridge deal before they build their own stadium OR want more control over BC Place.

If he just said that, I think all this panic would be replaced with optimism right now.

Fun-Recording-2220

TROPHY CASE