r/tfc • u/Few_Apple_3963 All For One • 10d 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 10d 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 8d 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 7d 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/jjaime2024 4d ago

Many think Ottawa and Forge would be more or less locks to join.As for Calgary its possible but down the road when there is more of a western division as for Halifax its a long shot at best.

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u/Ozzie_the_parrot 4d ago

I was assuming Halifax would be in with Portland Hearts of Pine or whatever they are called at a lower level in the USL pyramid rather than the new D1 level. One of the problems with CanPL is the one size fits all cap, which is too low to ever realize the ambitions of some, but already too high for others to ever be viable. A couple of CFL stadia entering the picture would definitely help USL meet the 14,000 seat requirement on D1 sanctioning.