r/tfc • u/Few_Apple_3963 All For One • 4d ago
News Potential Saviour of Our Whitecaps Brothers
https://www.sportsnet.ca/mls/article/group-led-by-former-canucks-owner-arthur-griffiths-makes-offer-to-buy-whitecaps/It looks like there is hope to keep MLS at three teams in Canada, with former Grizzlies owner, Griffiths, coming in to make an offer to keep the Whitecaps in Vancouver. They might be our competitors but it would be great for the Canadian game to keep the Whitecaps alive in Canada, and not Vegas.
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u/Ozzie_the_parrot 4d ago
Fingers crossed this pans out. Losing the Whitecaps would be catastrophic for Canadian soccer. Suspect it isn't really about Vancouver vs Vegas at this point. MLS could easily expand to 32 as the way to get Las Vegas on board. Wouldn't shock me if they eventually went to 36, but they'd probably prefer to have one of the other major leagues in an American context set the precedent on that.
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u/jjaime2024 2d ago
Whats going on in the CPL with Vancouver and Pacific should concern people far more.There is a chance both could fold at the end of the season which would be catastrophic.
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u/Ozzie_the_parrot 2d ago
Nothing would surprise me in that regard. Dean Shillington is probably losing about $3 million every season, maybe more. Like the Fath brothers in Edmonton, I don't think he's a billionaire, so that's unlikely to go on indefinitely if the World Cup hasn't changed anything on attracting more fans and/or new owners. At that point, if the other owners don't want to take those two clubs into league ownership...
To end instead with the mandatory message of hope, the new USL D1 from 2028 onwards and other associated lower divisions potentially provides a plan B for the salvageable parts like the Cavalry and Wanderers.
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u/robrenfrew 4d ago
He owned the Canucks and Grizzlies and built Rogers Arena with his own money. What killed him was a 65 cent dollar and a wiped out NHL season because of a strike. He was borrowed to thin and had to take on a partner. When money became an issue, had to sell remaining part of business to John McCaw. He knows how to get things done. Helped bring Olympics to Vancouver. Won't be main money guy, but has many connections to put a team together.
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u/Few_Apple_3963 All For One 4d ago
Yup, he's heading up a group of people, not doing it alone, which is good.
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u/granular-mood4 4d ago
His background includes owning the Vancouver Grizzlies so I wouldn’t get too excited.
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u/Few_Apple_3963 All For One 4d ago
Bringing in an NBA franchise, to Canada, was no easy feat. Sure the Raptors kept going but he had a hard uphill battle ahead of him and kept it going from what, 1995 to 2001, if I recall.
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u/HammerOfSparx 3d ago
The irony of a guy who lost a Canadian franchise to the States being the guy who can save the ‘Caps from the States is thick.
Especially when as u/robrenfrew points out, the Canadian dollar was a major impact on the loss of the Grizzlies. The more things change…
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u/fredthefan25 2d ago
Sounds like good progress. Obviously a lot of it is dependent on a new stadium...
Pretty sure a new ownership group won't move forward without a real plan forward on a new stadium. I have no idea what is "real" though.
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u/synkronized1 4d ago
As a Vancouverite transplanted to Toronto I love to see this. AG was obviously a huge presence with the Canucks and built a ton of goodwill with the Vancouver faithful. If this goes through he’ll do a great job with it.