New 'serious' bidder wants to buy Whitecaps and keep them in Vancouver
Finally, some good news regarding the status of the Vancouver Whitecaps.
Just days after a group with billionaire ties from Las Vegas formally submitted an offer to buy the Whitecaps, a group has apparently stepped up in an effort to keep the team in Vancouver.
B.C. MLA Ravi Kahlon met with the media in Victoria on Wednesday afternoon to confirm the news.
“We just had a group that reached out to us, that’s been organizing apparently, for a few weeks to put a bid in for the Whitecaps,” he said.
“I don’t have the details. I’ll leave it to the bid group to share those details.”
Earlier in the day, Whitecaps CEO and Sporting Director Axel Schuster revealed to the media that, among over 100 groups that have expressed interest in the Whitecaps, only 30 of them have passed the initial vetting stage.
Of those 30 groups, none of them felt that the Whitecaps were a viable investment in their current business model as tenants at BC Place.
When Kahlon met with the media on Wednesday, he wouldn’t confirm whether or not the group planned on keeping the team at BC Place.
“All we know is there’s a bid group who’s interested, and they’ll be sharing that information publicly very soon,” Khalon said.
But, how soon is very soon?
“I would say sooner would be better, because there’s a lot of anxiety amongst Whitecaps fans that want to see a local proponent come forward,” Khalon added.
While Kahlon was sparse on details, he did add that there has been no request for financial support from the provincial government related to a potential sale of the Whitecaps to this new prospective ownership group.
All he would confirm is that this new group that wants to buy the Whitecaps does seem legitimate, and that the group apparently wants to keep the team in Vancouver.
“The bid so far seems interesting,” Kahlon said. “It seems like it’s grounded in a plan to keep the team here.”
“They do seem serious.”