(Photo credit: Anne-Marie Sorvin-Imagn Images)
The city of Vancouver announced Thursday that discussions will begin to build a new soccer stadium and keep the MLS runner-up Whitecaps in the Canadian city for the foreseeable future.
Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, as well as Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, gathered at city hall to reveal that negotiations will begin on a new venue at Hastings Park, which is 17 miles east of the team's current downtown home, BC Place.
The Whitecaps played their inaugural season of 2010 at Empire Stadium before moving into 54,500-capacity BC Place one year later.
The stadium, which is the primary home of the Canadian Football League's BC Lions, is reduced to a 22,120 capacity for MLS games, with seats confined to the lower bowl for all but a select few soccer games.
The venue is set to play host to seven 2026 FIFA World Cup games next summer, while using the stadium's larger capacity.
During the run up to MLS Cup on Saturday, MLS commissioner Don Garber said the Whitecaps' current lease at BC Place was 'untenable.' The franchise had been in discussions for a lease extension.
Reports have indicated the Whitecaps receive as little as 20 percent of concession revenue for home games and only a part of their gate revenue. Garber said last week there was a 'possibility' the Whitecaps could have been relocated without a favorable venue plan moving forward.
Playing in their first MLS Cup final, the Whitecaps fell 3-1 to Inter Miami on Saturday, in a game played at South Florida.
--Field Level Media
