Whitecaps, City of Vancouver sign agreement on pursuing new stadium

The Vancouver Whitecaps are moving forward with plans to build a new stadium on the eastern edge of the city. 

The Major League Soccer club and the City of Vancouver announced Thursday that they have signed a memorandum of understanding to explore a new stadium and entertainment district at Hastings Park. 

The deal isn't approval for a new project, said Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, but a framework for negotiations. 

“It’s really up to the Whitecaps and if they have future partners to come up with a plan that makes sense," he said. "And then they’ll present that to council and there’ll be a lot of opportunities to go through a public hearing and make sure it works in the context of our city and the region.”

Over the next year, the city and the Whitecaps will attempt to negotiate a long-term lease that would see the city maintain ownership of the land. A design for the stadium will also be put forward, along with the financial terms and community benefits of the project. 

It will be up to the Whitecaps and their partners to finance the plan, Sim said. 

The size of the stadium and what else will be included in the entertainment district remains to be seen, said Whitecaps chief executive officer and sporting director Axel Schuster.

Now that an agreement has been signed, the team will look for partners and try to determine how much space they need, what they want to do with any additional space, and how to make the project financially sustainable, he said. 

"We're looking at something that makes sense," Schuster said. 

“It’s a lot of work. For that reason, it’s impossible to give a precise answer on any of that.”

The team's current ownership group put the Whitecaps for sale last December and Schuster has long said that securing a new stadium is key to attracting a buyer or investor who will keep the club in Vancouver.

“When we announced one year ago that this club was up for sale, I told everyone this is not an end, this is a beginning. A beginning of something new we want to develop, something new we want to build in Vancouver," he said. 

Signing a new agreement with the city represents progress, Schuster added.

“It’s a little step, a little step that we are working forward, that a step is done, a foundation is built and that we have great partners on our side. And then I have to ask again for patience," he said, noting that the next steps will take time. “And now we go back to work.”

Sim — an avowed Whitecaps fan who was in Florida to watch Vancouver face Inter Miami in the MLS Cup last weekend — was even more forceful about the impact the new agreement would have on the team's future.

“Yes, there are interested parties that would like to buy the Whitecaps. There are interested parties who want to take the Whitecaps out of the city of Vancouver," he said. "If we do not create an environment, or if there’s no opportunity to have your own stadium where you have your concessions and the economics around it, there is no viable option for anyone who wants to keep the Whitecaps in the city of Vancouver.”

The Whitecaps currently play at B.C. Place, a 55,000-seat stadium in downtown Vancouver that is owned by PavCo, a Provincial Crown corporation, though their current lease expires at the end of the month. 

Both the Whitecaps and MLS commissioner Don Garber have spoken out about the team's current lease in recent months, saying it isn't sustainable because there's a lack of scheduling flexibility and the club receives limited revenue from food and beverage sales. 

The Whitecaps are simply asking for a "fair deal," Schuster said. 

“I’m very convinced that we have reasonable and convincing arguments on our side to get to a fair solution," he said. 

Sim called on the provincial government to offer the team a bridge deal while work on a new stadium gets underway.

“We are asking the provincial government to step up and get a deal done with the Vancouver Whitecaps and look at the long term," he said. "Because I can tell you, if I put my business owners hat on, the economics just don’t work.”

Any cost to the province under a revised deal would be offset by other economic benefits, including tax revenue, the mayor said. 

PavCo issued a statement Thursday saying it remains "engaged in productive discussions" with the Whitecaps about a lease renewal. 

"Any discussion about the current agreement — or the new agreement — should be looked at in totality, factoring in not just revenue but also operational costs and capital investments," the statement said. 

"The current agreement offers several revenue opportunities for the Whitecaps, yet the club does not contribute to or assume the risk for the vast majority of its matchday costs, which would be 100 per cent their responsibility in a stadium they own. 

"While we are proud to remain the current home of the Vancouver Whitecaps, the reality is that our partnership with the team is, for us, more about supporting a very valued community partner than financial profit. We have always done our best to prioritize the Whitecaps, often over more profitable events."

The agreement between the Whitecaps and the City of Vancouver comes days after Hastings Racecourse, a thoroughbred racing outfit at Hastings Park, announced it was shutting down effective immediately. 

"Unfortunately, this is strictly a business decision based on a lack of economic feasibility to move forward with another season of horse racing at Hastings," Wayne Odegard, regional vice president of Great Canadian Entertainment, said in a statement.

There are currently no horses stabled at Hastings Racecourse because the racing season runs from April to October.

The timing of the track's closure and the announcement of the city's agreement with the Whitecaps are not linked, Sim said. 

"These things just don’t happen overnight. We’ve been talking (to the Whitecaps) for almost a year now," he said.

“Horse racing has been a declining industry for a very long time, not just in the city of Vancouver but across the continent. This is really just a coincidence.” 

The City said in a release that the new agreement does not impact the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's agreement to purchase the casino portion of Hastings Racecourse, and the use won't be opposed by the Whitecaps. 

The Whitecaps have long had "very, very strong connections and partnerships" with the local First Nations and that will continue as talks about a new stadium progress, Schuster said. 

Picture Courtesy THE CANADIAN PRESS/Darryl Dyck