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British Columbia Jobs Minister Ravi Kahlon says the provincial government has been approached by a local group that wants to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps.
The potential B.C.-based bid for the Major League Soccer team comes after the announcement of a formal offer by a U.S. group to buy and relocate the team to Las Vegas last week.
“We just had a group that’s reached out to us that has been organizing apparently for a few weeks to put a bid in for the Whitecaps,” Kahlon told reporters in Victoria on Wednesday.
Kahlon called it “a positive development for Whitecaps fans and of course for the province.”
He said the group was doing “due diligence” and he understood that it would share more information soon about a bid that is “grounded in a plan to keep the team here.”
Vancouver Whitecaps fans are in alarm mode over word a billionaire has submitted a formal bid to Major League Soccer to buy and relocate the team to Las Vegas.
Kahlon, who is a longtime Whitecaps fan and season-ticket holder, said the group had contacted his office but wasn’t seeking any help from the province.
He said the potential bidders “do seem serious.”
A group led by billionaire businessman Grant Gustavson announced last week that it had submitted a bid to Major League Soccer to buy the Whitecaps that would include a privately financed, soccer-specific stadium in Las Vegas.
Gustavson, 30, is the grandson of Public Storage co-founder B. Wayne Hughes and the son of billionaire Tamara Gustavson, one of the company’s largest shareholders.
While Kahlon said he did not have a time frame for the local bidders going public, “I would say sooner would be better, because there’s a lot of anxiety amongst Whitecaps fans that they want to see a local proponent come forward.”
A formal offer has been submitted to purchase and relocate the Vancouver Whitecaps to Las Vegas. Glen Hodgson, an economist, financial consultant, and author of Power Play: the Business Economics of Pro Sports, told BC Today host Michelle Eliot that Major League Soccer has become big business, but the B.C. government and City of Vancouver can still find local owners who want to act as “custodians” of the team.
“I can’t speak to the proponents that are bidding for this process other than say that they seem very interested and they understand how important the club is for the province,” he said, adding that if the team left Vancouver he “definitely will not go to Vegas to watch.”
Multiple groups are believed to be exploring relocation options as MLS reviews the Whitecaps’ future.
The club has been up for sale since 2024, with ownership citing ongoing challenges tied to stadium control and revenue at its home stadium, B.C. Place, which is owned and operated by the province.
“Over the past 16 months, we have had serious conversations with more than 100 parties, and to date, no viable offer has emerged that would keep the club here,” the Whitecaps said in a statement last week.
