Will Vegas FOMO END Vancouver Whitecaps?

Added: 2026-05-10

[00:00:00]Here's Brody Brazil.

[00:00:03]>> I do think it's a fair question to ask of Major League Soccer right now. Are they experiencing Vegas FOMO, as in the fear of missing out on being a league that does not currently have a franchise in this city?

[00:00:17]Now, to be fair, baseball's not there yet. Basketball's not there yet. But pretty soon, and within the span of about a dozen years, the big four pro sports leagues will all be there. And if MLS truly is that number five, why would they want to be on the outside looking in? I'm going to read to you here a lot from this piece in the Los Angeles Times, documenting the bid from the Las Vegas side of relocating the Vancouver White Caps. And by the end of this video, we're going to have to answer the question quite seriously. Is MLS just simply looking for any available team and option? And the Vancouver White Caps happen to be that team with some vulnerability right now to uplift that team, relocate them out of Vancouver and bring them down to Vegas just because the league wants to be in Vegas because they don't want to miss out. from the Los Angeles Times. Major League Soccer may be the next professional sports league to relocate a team to Las Vegas with an investment group led by Grant Gustoson seeking to buy the financially troubled Vancouver White Caps and move them to a new stadium near the Las Vegas strip. Interesting that they are financially troubled. We've known that the Vancouver White Caps have been up for sale. They haven't really made public how much they're losing and to what degree, but that will be discussed later on here in the piece. Also a new stadium near the Las Vegas strip. It sounds like there's already some land in mind for this potential MLS site. They don't really have an MLS caliber stadium. Allegent Stadium is probably way too big for that. Gustoson, by the way, 30 years old, a Las Vegas resident, so there's a connection. And a USC graduate, probably how this got in the LA Times, with deep ties to the school's athletic program, last week submitted a formal offer to the league. It just goes to show you how serious this is. We heard a report in the Athletic several weeks ago that this was just a conversation and and that the league was meeting with the group in Las Vegas.

[00:02:13]Now, we know a formal offer was submitted to the league to purchase the team, which has been up for sale for 16 months. But his plans have been met with significant opposition in Vancouver, the team's home since 1974 when it played in the North American Soccer League. The White Caps pre-existed obviously MLS.

[00:02:33]However, it's hard to see how the team, an MLS Cup finalist a year ago and the second best club in MLS again this season, can afford to stay in Canada under the current circumstances. The White Caps, and I want to say here, have reportedly lost more than $300 million since joining MLS 15 years ago, and they are forecast to lose as much as 45 million this season. I would only push back and challenge on this to say we need to see how and why to make sure that number is accurate because when this is thrown out, it's one of those excuses to get out the door. If that's true, then maybe it's a little bit more understandable. But until anybody sees the receipts behind that, is that one of the excuses that the league can use, that the franchise can use to try and sell elsewhere for more money? The stadium deal in Vancouver is one of the biggest obstacles in trying to keep the team there. Under the White Cap's current agreement with BC Place, which is owned by the BC Pavilion Corp, a crown corporation of the province, so it's owned by the government. The team has limited access to revenue streams such as naming rights, receives just 12.5% of food and beverage revenue, and gets nothing from parking. And so we've known for a while that the deal, the setup at BC Place isn't optimal, may not be uh may not be similar to what other MLS franchises have. It does not have priority, the team doesn't on scheduling either, which proved embarrassing in 2024 when the team had to move a home playoff game to Portland, Oregon because a motocross event was taking place already at BC Place. We understand all of that. And now we're going to get this quote from Dan Courtmanch, who's an MLS spokesperson. Here's what Dan told the LA Times about this entire situation.

[00:04:21]Major League Soccer remains focused on working with the White Caps and local stakeholders to determine whether a sustainable long-term path for the club can be achieved.

[00:04:33]I mean, the part where it says to determine whether still means like it's very much up in the air. It's not here the quote saying Major League Soccer remains focused to secure a sustainable long-term path. It says, "We're working to determine whether a sustainable long-term path for the club can be achieved." So, there's a huge question mark there. However, Dan goes on to say, "Stadium economics, scheduling restrictions, and a lack of government and corporate support have created ongoing structural challenges that make it difficult to establish a viable path forward for the club.

[00:05:09]So, it's kind of almost speaking here in past tense as like this didn't work out instead of hey, we're working on this and this is our option and this is what we're focused on. This kind of leaves every option up in the air. And so, I'll get to the main question here. Again, we posed this at the beginning of the video. Hockey came in first with Las Vegas. Then, the Raiders followed. Then, the A's have been on the process of moving to Las Vegas for several years.

[00:05:38]The NBA just formally approved their expansion process to accept bids in both Seattle and Las Vegas. So, they'll be there sooner than later. All these other other leagues are going. Is MLS trying to take this, and I say opportunity.

[00:05:51]It's not great for Vancouver fans. Are they trying to take the the chance here of, well, this is a team with some struggles, with some volatility? They're up for sale. Let's just make this easy all punch. Get them out of Vancouver.

[00:06:02]put him in Las Vegas where we wanted them all along because we don't want to be the last team in the market and expansion would be another route to get a team to Las Vegas. But expansion might take several years, right? Just the process of building a stadium. And look, I don't know if the White Caps were to move after this season, where would they play? I suppose there are some options.

[00:06:23]Allegiance Stadium wouldn't be great, but maybe it's possible. It does exist.

[00:06:28]and maybe some friends down in Las Vegas could do some favors and make that work for a season or two while they build something else. But expansion is going to take even longer than quick relocation. Relocation is the fastest way to make this happen. It accelerates the Vegas process. It gets MLS into Las Vegas potentially before baseball and well before the NBA.

[00:06:53]And so that's why MLS might be interested in hitting the gas here. I'm putting this out as educated speculation and conversation. I'm not here to tell you this is exactly how they feel, but could this be part of their equation?

[00:07:06]And so, if you're a Vancouverite, if you're a Vancouver sports fan, do you even have the choice in all of this? If MLS wants to move one of its teams and will will allow it to be sold and relocated to a different market if the club is willing to be sold to a different market, then do Vancouverites have any control over this entire situation? They don't own the club. They don't run the league. Those are the two entities with all the control in all of this. There's also something else to consider. There's another MLS team right down the coast here in Northern California. to the San Jose earthquakes have also been up for sale. Not as long as the White Caps, but they do remain up for sale. And interestingly enough, John Fischer, owner of those athletics who are moving to Las Vegas, he's the owner of the San Jose Earthquakes. He's got them up for sale. If they really wanted a team in Las Vegas, how could they do this? He's selling the team. Why wouldn't he sell this team to a group in Las Vegas? or why wouldn't he take this team? His second team, his other team also to Las Vegas, but it's up for sale.

[00:08:15]This is what a source sold the told the LA Times, sold the LA Times, told the LA Times about a potential sale of the quake. Somebody's going to buy the earthquakes and they're going to keep the team there versus Vancouver where somebody's going to buy the team and it's a little up in the air. I don't know who said this. Obviously, the LA Times thought it was relevant enough to share this. But isn't that interesting, right? That there is a certain feeling that the San Jose team, even though their owner is taking his other team to Las Vegas, the San Jose team won't move, but the Vancouver one just might. Here's my takeaways. Looking at Las Vegas, first off, like we can discuss the Vancouver side, but the Las Vegas side, they haven't said no to much. Oh, you want to build a football stadium, we'll build that. You want to build a baseball stadium, we'll build that. The hockey owner, Bill Foley, when he brought the Golden Knights in, he built the NHL Arena all by himself. But in terms of the asks and the Las Vegas Convention Visitors Authority, it sounds like they will comply with pretty much anything reasonable that you ask because they want sports so bad. So, that's always going to be a threat because if somebody else is going to say yes and it's tough to do it in Vancouver, it's just easier to move. Not saying it's the right thing. I'm saying that's how teams and operations work. At what point though is Vegas going to get totally oversaturated. And what about the years where the Golden Knights, you know, aren't good. They have never gone through that yet. And the Raiders certainly aren't good, but they're football. That's only eight, nine home games a year. You'll sell out with Kansas City fans coming in, with Denver fans, with Los Angeles fans. You don't need to worry about that in football.

[00:09:53]But when baseball rolls around and when the A's aren't the most popular ticket in town and then when the NBA team gets there, what if they're not good? And now we've got four and five and let's not forget the aces of the WNBA. Now we've got five and six plus teams. Las Vegas is like the 40th media market in the United States. Are they fit for all four, let alone five or six or seven major pro sports teams?

[00:10:18]And that's why MLS probably wants to get in here sooner than later before this truly becomes oversaturated. MLS doesn't want to be the very last thing in market. And unless they act quickly, they will. And so all of this, everything that I've heard about doesn't work in Vancouver and here's how much the White Caps are losing and here's the bad deal they have, it almost sounds like it's laying the groundwork. like MLS and the franchise itself are laying the groundwork for trying to make this happen, right? I don't see the effort of well, we're going to find every way possible. I get it. The team has been up for sale unsuccessfully for a year and a half now almost. I get that part, but it doesn't seem like here and now the effort is to keep that part going. It feels like the effort is to listen to as much as possible here. And if this is an option, it will be another pro sports team going to Vegas because where they were at previously, it just took too long and or it didn't work out. Let me know what you think about all this in the comments section below. Also, I can't wait to see you already back here for the next one.

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