New Podcast: Save The Caps
We're joined by Ciarán Nicoll, president and secretary of the Vancouver Southsiders supporters group, to talk about the campaign to save the Vancouver Whitecaps from relocation and extinction.
This is a fast-moving and developing story, and as Ciarán higlighted, one of the biggest in football at the moment. Save the Caps need your support.
It's the Whitecaps now, but it could be your club next.
Listen on your preferred platform here ⬇️
https://t.co/wzQGKjrKQE
A couple of things:
1. It's been awhile so I hope this finds you and your loved ones in good health and good spirits.
2. The world is a better place with the Whitecaps in Vancouver.
SAVE THE CAPS!
@thesoccerdon@HarJournalist You expect us to believe that? You probably got drunk at the FIFA Congress and tweeted exactly what you were thinking. Maybe the whitecaps are better off without the disgraceful MLS. #savethecaps brand.
If able, join us for a public demonstration at the FIFA Congress tomorrow morning. This is our opportunity to be seen in front of the world's media.
Be at the marked location with your #SaveTheCaps items.
Please respect any security cordons and keep it respectful and peaceful.
It’s fine. We only supported this team for 15 years with our blood, sweat, tears, and money through absolute mediocrity. But sure, move them to the desert where no one gives a fuck, so some rich bastards can get even richer. Makes total sense. #vwfc
Cascadia is not Cascadia without Vancouver, period. Read our full joint statement with @Cascadia_FC, alongside several Sounders pages, here.
https://t.co/Uqa5HFuHNW
STATEMENT FROM VANCOUVER MAYOR KEN SIM:
The Whitecaps have been Vancouver’s club since 1974. Many things have changed throughout the years: the players, the logos, the kits, and the stadiums, just to name a few. The one thing that has never changed is Vancouver’s love of this team.
The Whitecaps are one of the top teams in the MLS, they were the runners up in last year’s championship, and they sit in the top ten of league attendance at an average of 24,000+ per game. While we understand that professional sports is a complex business, it would be a mistake for any team to leave a market with such a longstanding history and ready-made fanbase.
The City of Vancouver has done its part to create a path forward for the team’s future here by offering prime space at Hastings Park for the Whitecaps to construct a new stadium and entertainment district.
Now, we face the difficult part.
BC Place is owned and operated by the Provincial Government. In fact, it’s the only stadium owned and operated by a government found anywhere in the MLS. In order for the team to stay in Vancouver, the Whitecaps and Province must sign a bridge deal that will allow BC Place to become viable in the near term while a new stadium can be designed and built.
That's why today, we are calling on the team’s ownership to publicly and clearly articulate what they need to stay here in Vancouver, and we are calling on the Provincial Government to come to the table and make that a reality.
To all Vancouver Whitecaps fans, to the @Southsiders, and to all of the supporter groups, we need you to keep the fight going. We need you to stay strong, and we need you to stay loud.
Losing the Whitecaps is not an option. #SAVETHECAPS
They CANNOT move the Vancouver Whitecaps. It’s a tragedy that American/Canadian sports teams are the only ones in the world who have to worry about their club moving. Could you imagine if Real Madrid moved to Mallorca? Manchester United moved to London? Inter Milan moved to Naples?
It’s not fair to the fans that there’s a risk of losing their club. It’s absolutely sickening, and it shouldn’t be this way.
SAVE THE CAPS