Major League Soccer's Vancouver Whitecaps FC today confirmed that the team is for sale.
Forbes earlier this year estimated the team's value at US$420 million, with an estimated US$25 million in 2023 revenue, leading to a US$14 million operating loss that same year. That valuation ranked the team No. 28 out of 29 MLS teams.
"This decision comes after careful consideration of the club’s journey and reflection on what is required to ensure its continued growth and success,” the Whitecaps said in a news release.
Majority owner Greg Kerfoot owns the team with Steve Luczo, Jeff Mallett, and Steve Nash.
The ownership group has not revealed the exact size of each's ownership stake.
Mallett for the past five years has been executive chairman.
He told BIV in 2020 that he and Kerfoot were the ones who approve key club decisions.
“The two Steves are not as active,” Mallett said in 2020.
He then stressed that it is Kerfoot, because of his larger ownership stake, who is the ultimate decision maker.
“We always say that we’re here to help Greg,” said Mallett, who was born and raised in B.C. and made much of his money from his time at Yahoo!, where he was one of the first dozen employees and rose to the position of president for seven years, through the dot-com boom and bust.
Kerfoot, who almost never speaks with media and is rarely photographed, founded the data-analytics software company Crystal Services in 1984. That venture later became Seagate Software and then Crystal Decisions.
He acquired the team in 2002, after previous owner David Stadnyk stepped down as owner and handed control of the team to the the United Soccer League, which is where the team then played. Kerfoot then put together the team's current ownership group in 2008. The four were awarded a MLS franchise, which came with a US$35-million franchise fee, the following year and saw the team play in North America's premier soccer league starting in 2011.
The team said today that the Whitecaps have grown to become "a staple of MLS, reaching seventh in league attendance, doubling season ticket memberships over the past two years, and qualifying for the MLS Cup Playoffs in three of the past four seasons."
It added that the current ownership has built a solid foundation for the team and that "it is the right time for an owner with the platform, resources and ambition to enhance the club’s ability to compete at the highest levels of MLS and steward the club in realizing its significant potential."
The league confirmed the news and praised the team's owners.
“The Vancouver Whitecaps would not be where they are today without the vision and commitment of this exceptional ownership group,” said MLS commissioner Don Garber in a statement.
“The Whitecaps are a terrific club in a world-class city. On behalf of everyone at Major League Soccer, I want to thank them for their tremendous contributions and look forward to working with them to identify new ownership for the club.”
Kerfoot said today in a statement on behalf of the ownership group that it has been "committed to transforming our local soccer club into a significant contributor to our community.”
He added, "It is gratifying to see how meaningful the Whitecaps have become to so many, and to have been able to contribute to the growth of a vibrant and thriving soccer community in Vancouver, the Lower Mainland, British Columbia, and beyond.”
He thanked what he called "the passionate MLS supporters, academy development teams and players, the thousands of kids who attend camps, and the groups we support in nurturing the game in so many places have all proven out our belief in Vancouver as a first-class soccer market. The future of the Vancouver Whitecaps is bright.”
The Whitecaps launched in 1974 and played in the North American Soccer League until that league collapsed in 1984. The team this year celebrated 50 years since that 1974 launch.
It is not clear who might step forward to buy the team. It is possible that the buyer could be a U.S.-based billionaire. Global has reported that Francesco Aquilini, who owns the National Hockey League's Vancouver Canucks, is not interested.
When Aquilini bought the team, another local billionaire who was interested at the time was real estate company Beedie's owner Ryan Beedie.
BIV asked Beedie today if he would be interested in buying the team.
"Lol. 0 chance," he texted back.
