Sports

Vancouver Is Hosting the World Cup. It Might Not Have a Soccer Team When It Starts.

By Curtis Jones · April 29, 2026

The 2026 World Cup arrives in Vancouver in seven weeks. The stadium that will host seven matches — including Canada vs. Qatar and Canada vs. Switzerland — is BC Place. The team that calls BC Place home is the Vancouver Whitecaps. And the Whitecaps may not exist as a Vancouver franchise by the time the tournament ends.

MLS Commissioner Don Garber confirmed Tuesday that the league “will evaluate all options” for the Whitecaps — including moving them out of Vancouver entirely. The club’s ownership group, which includes former NBA star Steve Nash, has been trying to sell the franchise for 16 months. More than 100 parties have been approached. None has made a viable offer that includes keeping the club in the city.

“It’s reaching a critical point,” Garber said Tuesday during a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors in New York.

The irony at the center of this story is nearly perfect. The World Cup — the event that was supposed to celebrate soccer in North America and cement Vancouver’s status as a soccer city — is a primary reason the Whitecaps are in crisis. BC Place is locked into World Cup obligations for the summer, which means schedule restrictions, venue access limitations, and revenue constraints that have made the stadium economics essentially unworkable for a franchise trying to attract a buyer willing to keep it local.

The club’s statement made clear the situation is at an inflection point.

“The club has faced well-documented structural challenges around stadium economics, venue access, and revenue limitations that have made it difficult to attract buyers committed to keeping the team in Vancouver.”

The Whitecaps reached the MLS Cup final last year, losing to Lionel Messi’s Inter Miami 3-1. Thomas Müller, the German legend signed ahead of this season, is currently on the roster. The team is competitive. Its finances are not.

Garber confirmed that Las Vegas has already submitted an expansion application — and that a Vancouver relocation to Las Vegas is among the scenarios the league is actively considering. FIFA vice president Victor Montagliani, who is from Vancouver, described losing an MLS club on the back of a World Cup as “a capital crime” when asked about the situation last year. His opinion has not changed the math.

“Save The Caps” protest signs filled BC Place on Saturday during the team’s final home match before the stadium is taken over for World Cup preparations. The attendance was more than 27,000 — a full house for a team that may not have a permanent home to return to when the tournament is over.

A decision on the franchise’s future is expected before the end of the MLS season, which runs through the fall. The World Cup group stage in Vancouver runs June through July. The timeline in which the Whitecaps play matches as a Vancouver club while their ownership situation is unresolved, inside a stadium packed with fans who came for soccer, is one of the stranger circumstances in recent North American sports history.