Attendance at MLS Whitecaps home games "has stalled" despite the team's "encouraging move up the league table," according to Bruce Constantineau of the VANCOUVER SUN. The club this week launched a promotion "offering discounts of up to" 40% for single-game tickets for the team's next five home games. But Whitecaps COO Rachel Lewis said that the discount "doesn't indicate growing concern over attendance at BC Place." The lower-bowl configuration has a "capacity of 21,000, but could be expanded to more than 27,000 if the demand ever called for it." Constantineau: "Don't expect that any time soon." Lewis said, "We don't expect huge incremental growth overnight but our objective is to remain in the top third of the league and we fully expect to do that this year." Ticket sales are "hugely important in MLS, accounting for more than half of all league revenues, so it's easy to understand the ongoing push to get more bums in seats." Lewis said that the Whitecaps "continue to pick the brains of MLS clubs that have succeeded in growing their fan base" (VANCOUVER SUN, 4/4).
