A group headed by a member of the Gutavson family, whose late patriarch founded Public Storage in the 1970s, announced their interest Thursday in buying the Major League Soccer club. Grant Gustavson, son of one of the wealthiest women in America — Tamara Gustavson, worth about $8.5 billion US — is leading a bid to bring the Whitecaps to Las Vegas. According to reporting by Sportico and The Athletic, Gustavson’s group has submitted an offer to MLS officials for their consideration. As part of their proposal, the group says they will build their own soccer stadium.
The Whitecaps’ owners put the team up for sale in December 2024 and say they have more than 100 inquiries, but no one has made an offer to take over the team as long as their current stadium arrangement exists. Major League Soccer commissioner Don Garber, in Vancouver for the FIFA Congress, walked past reporters Thursday afternoon and did not respond to questions. An MLS spokesperson said the league wanted the focus to remain on the congress and would comment on the Whitecaps later. The Whitecaps themselves have not responded to requests for comment.
Mayor and Province React
Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim told reporters the news of such a bid is obviously very concerning. “We should all be concerned, and that goes well before Vegas came into the picture,” he said, before suggesting that the reality that the team could move seems to have shaken a few people awake. “A lot of groups have reached out over the last 48 hours, and so, you know, I don’t want to give anyone false hope, because we do have a hill to climb,” Sim said. “The city, we’ve done everything we can to make sure that we set up a future ownership group with a path toward success. Now it’s up to the province to step up.”
While the Vegas bid is alarming, it is also fair to point out that it is a market many have figured would be a target for the league to expand to. This could also be a ploy to simply get a bid in front of all other suitors for a new Vegas squad. That said, if no new local owner emerges, it is clear that MLS is now ready to take the team to a new market. Sim added that he sat with Garber for some of the congress and they discussed the situation again. “You have a commissioner who wants to see football or soccer succeed in the city of Vancouver,” Sim insisted. “I think that’s very promising. (But) at the end of the day, the economics have to work for whoever the future owner is.”
Stadium Deal Key Issue
The Whitecaps and Garber have said that continuing to play at B.C. Place was untenable because they could not generate enough non-ticket revenue to make up a large revenue deficit. Earlier this year, Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster said the league’s average per-term revenue was about $40 million US, and that the Whitecaps were at the back of the pack. Logic alone suggests this figure is dragged up by a handful of teams who are very profitable, such as Inter Miami and LAFC. In other words, there are many teams that are not making $40 million in revenue. The league has a global TV rights package with Apple, but it is understood to not be terribly lucrative and is one of several revenue challenges many teams face. The Whitecaps have remained pretty consistent that they need a new stadium, and did reach a deal with the city of Vancouver late last year that gave them a year-long window to put together a stadium entertainment district project.
B.C.’s Minister for Jobs and Economic Growth Ravi Kahlon told reporters in Victoria earlier on Thursday that the government had a meeting on Wednesday with Garber which he felt had brought some clarity to the situation and that they agreed to have another meeting. He felt this was a positive sign. He also said that while there have been many meetings between the government and the Whitecaps over how B.C. Place is run, the team has never formally put forward a proposal to take over management of the stadium from PavCo, the Crown corporation that runs the stadium and other facilities in Vancouver. “Finding ways to get more revenue and lower their overhead,” was how Kahlon described the broad substance of their meetings. “The ideas that were brought forward were accepted by PavCo. That’s why their costs have been reduced by $2 million, and the additional opportunities that they (brought forward) have actually raised their revenues by more than $1 million. So, they are plus-$3 million just this year from those discussions.”
Kahlon insisted it is in the province’s interest to keep the Whitecaps in town. “The premier made that very clear,” Kahlon said about Wednesday’s meeting with Garber. “We’ve been clear since day one. We want to see the Whitecaps continue to be here. They are an important part of our community. We understand the owners want to sell. We understand the value has gone from $35 million to close to $500 million, and they see an opportunity to cash in on that. But we also believe that the MLS owes it to the fans in Vancouver to do whatever they can to keep the team here. They’ve stepped up in the past in Columbus and other situations, and this might be an opportunity for them to step in as well.”
