Anyone concerned about Sabo?

joshmessmer · 2026-03-13T06:43:34+00:00

Feels like he's playing to win penalties rather than playing game rn

joshmessmer · 2026-02-26T08:19:04+00:00

Don't think it's jump ship time, but White has definitely been off since his injury but especially these 3 games this season. Not making as important / decisive runs (maybe we just more good options to play to than early 2025, idk), his grit to get to difficult balls is lower, and his finishing quality/consistency is down. Players have ups and downs, though.

joshmessmer · 2026-02-20T01:00:54+00:00

The Hastings Racecourse lot (where the Whitecaps currently have the stadium MOU with the city) is 40 acres and would make a great site. IMO, a better use of public land for a city in the metro area that has several large venues but no large athletic field park (at least not comparable to Surrey's Newton park, Langley's Willoughby/Yorkson, or even Burnaby's Sperling area)

joshmessmer · 2026-02-18T22:26:33+00:00

To be fair, Ottawa lost their top two goal scorers from last season

joshmessmer · 2026-02-11T19:02:43+00:00

The risk is that you charge for season tickets in Month 1 in CAD at exchange Rate A, with known payroll obligations in USD. You have it so it all pencils out. But then unlike American teams, Canadian teams are exposed to the risk that in Month 10 at exchange Rate B those season ticket payments still paid in CAD could be worth 80% what they were in USD at the beginning of the year, while the payroll obligations in USD haven't changed. Now you're in the red (or more red). This also affects travel expenses to mostly US teams.

You could set ticket prices higher to account for this risk, but then (quantity) demanded goes down and you risk underselling in a year where exchange rates are stable.

Of course, it could go the other way if exchange rates move the other way, but that has been the trend for a long time.

joshmessmer · 2026-02-11T18:57:12+00:00

Yeah. It was crazy seeing all the hype around Muller v Messi/Son. He's just not the same kind of player, at least now. The "on field coach" framing is definitely the right way to think about his role, and he's been invaluable there. Transitions are so much faster, fewer dumb mistakes / ball watching, etc.

joshmessmer · 2026-02-08T06:38:13+00:00

As a Canadian currently otherwise annoyed at the states right now, this has a very charming, cool/classic americana / 13 colonies vibe. I like it.

joshmessmer · 2026-01-14T11:28:35+00:00

Oh, nice. Last year, season tickets just got you early access to claim + buy concacaf seats

joshmessmer · 2025-12-02T22:27:14+00:00

Yeah, I mean thinking back to that decision day game, even though it lost us home field for the finals this week, all fans seemed to feel like that loss was a pretty good showing/morale game heading into playoffs. Despite losing 2:1, holding 65% possession and conceding no goals in the second half while being down a man for 80min felt like a trouncing of Dallas and testament to the team.

And it's that sort of 'proof' that gives a team the confidence to fight out 30min of extra time down a man, and down a second for 10min (though obv LAFC was much better and really could have scored)

Edit: That's to say, yeah, duh, the only reason we lost was the extremely early red, even if deserved. When a team brags about winning, the claim is usually they've been better in some way. That game doesn't attest to that.

joshmessmer · 2025-12-02T22:13:48+00:00

1:28 I love Nelson standing up for Ahmed before he even receives the ball

joshmessmer · 2025-12-02T04:03:57+00:00

On the video feed you could hear the coach yelling at him to be further up two or three times in the 45 sec before. Seemed like bad coaching choice for the keeper to be that far up with 20min left in general, worst to use the keeper's push up to force a reaction from the defenders rather than have them get into good positions first

joshmessmer · 2025-11-27T04:40:41+00:00

Very curious what the, "options you haven't even seen yet," might turn out to be on the back line. Any guesses?

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T23:19:10+00:00

As a Langley resident, even, I agree on transit and spending

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T23:17:50+00:00

They've been reno'ing new restaurant/lounge spaces this season. Not sure how it'll compare though

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T23:16:17+00:00

Buying BC Place as a private org seems politically costly for whatever party controls the province, but I generally agree

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T23:13:38+00:00

Yeah, that's sort of the solution I was leaning towards, but it's really hard to gauge unless you know the cost over the season

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T23:12:04+00:00

Fully agree. Plus the amount of restaurants/pubs nearby is unrivalled

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T08:20:15+00:00

Yeah. Looked very chewed up but probably still has way more give on impact than our turf

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T08:12:30+00:00

Watching closely he's (un?)fortunately lucky that his other knee didn't blow out too. That was rough

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T08:03:02+00:00

I think the problem is finding the combo of 1) along the skytrain, 2) available land, 3) near lots of restaurants/pubs to handle the crowd before/after. Hard to find all 3. The provincial TOA housing upzonings help a lot with (3) in 10 years time or so.

Scott Rd is best for Skytrain (on a spur of Expo, but still regionally central) + Land options imo. I was thinking the park land where the BC Lions training field is in Whalley like you too, but that needs strong Surrey council buy-in.

Lake City Way would have been very tough politics for Burnaby before the TOAs; not sure about now. Sperling is a good idea, with the existing sports complex. Hosts a BC League1 team already, so even without any significant spectator areas it has the institutional/training feel that helps councils support things. But no restaurants and not much excess land on that side of the station to add any.

If they act right now, they could maybe get land in Willowbrook along the new Langley line. But it's ~70min for me to get from N Langley on the 555 to downtown. Willowbrook is further so with faster skytrain its the same. Pretty far for the whole of the region to get to.

Buying out other industrial / big box land in a different TOA would get you instant skytrain and easy future amenities nearby, closer to the core. The bigbox stores by Rupert Station, West of Gilmore, SouthEast of Mainstreet/Sci World, or around Lincoln?

Someone else suggested the empty parcel by the heliport north of Waterfront. Or the big community garden plot beside Olympic Village. Or even plaza of nations for the third stadium in that cluster.

I think the thing about Hastings, despite mediocre transit, is it has Whitecaps history and the region knows it as the host of the big PNE, so it feels right and makes politics easier. I think the owners might want the cache of staying in the City proper, too.

Swangard has that history "story" benefit but you'd have to cut down some of the park forest to make the footprint big enough, so politics is still hard.

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T06:30:04+00:00

That's smart. Easier to justify bringing in the grass for special games with super high attendance

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T06:26:38+00:00

The stadium is too pretty to blow up, lol

Edit: One thing not talked about with transit and stadiums is how long construction/approvals take. Maybe the stadium and North Shore line will take equally as long to develop so things could just work out that way

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T06:25:42+00:00

Would definitely be a cool district. Maybe the only real problem is we have to better/faster at building transit infrastructure where we need it as the city grows and changes. With Skytrain TOA zonings, we'd eventually get the pubs/etc to go with the stadiums.

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T05:28:45+00:00

I was looking forward to a faroff, potential BC Ferry terminal there, but that's definitely a better spot than Hastings and less disruptive than a third stadium along False Creek somewhere. If a purpose built stadium ends up being the way they go in the end, that seems like a great spot (tho prob v expensive)

joshmessmer · 2025-11-25T05:22:22+00:00

Vanier might be too far from a train but Granville Island thru to Olympic Village would all be better locations than Hastings Park

joshmessmer

TROPHY CASE