Vancouver Execs May Partner To Bring MLS Expansion Team To City
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| Aquilini Interested In MLS Expansion Franchise |
Canucks Owner Francesco Aquilini is "interested in investing in the burgeoning MLS, whether as a partner with [USL Vancouver Whitecaps Owner Greg] Kerfoot or through his own expansion franchise bid," according to sources cited by Jim Jamieson of the Vancouver PROVINCE. The Whitecaps made "their own formal bid official on Friday and also unveiled [Suns G] Steve Nash as a high-profile partner." Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi acknowledged that Aquilini and Kerfoot have "had infrequent discussions over the past year -- the most recent a couple of weeks ago -- about [an] MLS franchise for Vancouver." Lenarduzzi: "I know that he and Greg over the course of the last year have talked, but beyond that there's not much more to tell." Aquilini's "interest in an MLS team fits in with comments from the MLS last season that more than one group had expressed interest" in an expansion team. According to a source, league reps "met with the Canucks at GM Place about a week before the Whitecaps announced at the end of April they were making a 180-degree shift and entertaining the possibility of playing at B.C. Place Stadium on an interim basis" until a proposed stadium is built (Vancouver PROVINCE, 7/27).
WHITECAPS' PLANS DETAILED: The GLOBE & MAIL's Matthew Sekeres reported the Whitecaps Friday formally announced plans to bid for a MLS expansion franchise "on the premise that co-owners Steve Nash and Greg Kerfoot would turn the new team into a not-for-profit operation." Their "aim is to invest any profits the new team might make into amateur soccer in [B.C.], and it is suspected that the Steve Nash Foundation ... would have a role in the team." A source said that Aquilini was "negotiating with the duo as recently as this month," but it is "unclear whether negotiations are continuing or whether the Canucks might team up with the Kerfoot-Nash group in the future." A competing bid from Aquilini could "split allegiances across [B.C.] and pit two sporting giants against each other." Nash said that he would be investing a "'considerable' amount of his own money for an undefined minority stake and would be a hands-on owner." Meanwhile, Kerfoot and Nash are currently "vying for a team that would take the field in 2011 at a refurbished B.C. Place Stadium complete with a retractable roof ... and reconfigured lower-level seats to make it a more intimate soccer environment" (GLOBE & MAIL, 7/26). Lenarduzzi said that the Whitecaps' "priority of giving to the community would continue, but as the push to an expansion franchise is evolving there is no way to guarantee the team would remain a non-profit entity." He added that "no additions to ownership are imminent" (Vancouver PROVINCE, 7/27).
TIME IS MONEY: In Vancouver, Greg Douglas wrote, "After the time and money Greg Kerfoot has unselfishly committed to the soccer movement in [B.C.], it would be disrespectful to try upstaging him." There have been "private discussions about expanding Swangard Stadium to 20,000 seats if it would help Aquilini get the attention of the MLS," but in light of the political and community support expressed at Friday's Whitecaps pep rally, "it wouldn't behoove Aquilini to continue his pursuit" (VANCOUVER SUN, 7/26). Lenarduzzi "stressed that not having a soccer-specific stadium by 2011 ... would not hinder the chances of landing a franchise" (VANCOUVER SUN, 7/26).
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