The city of Vancouver and the Vancouver Whitecaps announced they have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the potential development on a new stadium and entertainment district.
The MOU, which will last until the end of 2026, involves a potential stadium site at Hastings Park, and will see the two sides negotiate terms for a ground lease, including the stadium's design, financial terms and community benefits for the proposed development.
"We still have a long ways to go, but I'm incredibly optimistic about the future of soccer in our city for the next countless generations" said Vancouver mayor Ken Sim at Thursday's news conference. "And so I would like to thank the Vancouver Whitecaps and our team members at the city of Vancouver, and there have been a lot of them, a lot of unsung heroes that have worked incredibly hard and incredibly diligently to get us to this point."
Sim added that the city of Vancouver is only committing to negotiations on a lease at this time.
"It's really up to the Whitecaps and their partners to come up with a plan and finance that plan," Sim said.
Vancouver's owners announced in December of 2024 that the club was for sale. Greg Kerfoot has owned the team since 2002, 11 years before it started play in MLS. Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett and former NBA star Steve Nash joined Kerfoot in 2008.
Thursday's announcement provides hope that the team will remain in Vancouver.
"There are interested parties that would like to buy the Whitecaps," said Sim. "There are interested parties who want to take the Whitecaps out of the city of Vancouver if we do not create an environment, or if there's no opportunity to have your own stadium or you have your concessions in the economics around it. There is no viable option for anyone who wants to keep the Whitecaps in the city of Vancouver.
"Let's just call it what it is, there's probably absolutely no path for the Vancouver Whitecaps to remain in Vancouver without this MOU."
The Whitecaps have been in discussions with the city about the site at the Pacific National Exhibition (PNE) fairgrounds at Hastings Park in East Vancouver. Now the two sides have taken the next step in moving forward on a project. Hastings Racecourse shut its doors last week, ending 133 years of operations at the site.
"When we announced one year ago that this club is up for sale, I told everyone, 'This is not an end. This is a beginning, the beginning of something new that we want to develop something new," said Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster. "We want to build the future of the club in Vancouver. And I have told everyone, this ownership group and everyone in this club is fully committed to the process and the time it will take to get it successfully done."
Schuster added that the MOU is "a little step, a little step that shows that we are working forward, that a step is done, that the foundation is built, and that we have great partners on our side."
The proposed lease area is within the current Hastings Racecourse footprint, which includes space recently used for racecourse and casino operations. The city will retain ownership of the land at Hastings Racecourse Park. Both the city and the Whitecaps also recognize the Tsleil-Waututh Nation's agreement to purchase the casino business currently operating on the site.
The Whitecaps enjoyed a stellar campaign on the field in 2025, reaching the final of the Concacaf Champions League, as well as the MLS Cup final, where they fell 3-1 to Inter Miami CF and Lionel Messi.
However, the team's stadium situation has weighed heavily on the club's business. Finding a stadium site is one of two imperatives facing the Whitecaps if they are to become economically viable. The other is renewing the team's lease at BC Place, which expires at the end of this month.
"[The stadium is] not going to get built in the next eight months," said Sim. "This is probably going to take four-plus years. And so where do the Whitecaps play during that time? It should be a BC place. But when you look at the economics of BC Place, and I am not going to express numbers here, but it's a very costly proposition."
The league has taken notice of the situation in Vancouver. MLS commissioner Don Garber met with Sim last month, and at last Thursday's State of the League address in Washington, D.C., Garber was critical of what has transpired, calling the current situation "untenable."
"We are in the business of delivering for those people that really, really want to have an MLS team that they can love and embrace," Garber said last week. "And that's not just fans. They've done that. You need to have cities and provinces do that, and we're still waiting to see whether they'll be able to deliver. And if they don't, we're going to have to make some tough decisions."
In addition to ongoing negotiations with the Whitecaps to extend their lease, BC Place will host seven matches at next summer's World Cup.