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Jeff Carlisle
multiple authors
Grant Gustavson, whose mother is billionaire Tamara Gustavson, is leading an investor group that has made a formal offer for a takeover vancouver whitecaps And the team will be relocated to Las Vegas, a spokesperson for the group confirmed to ESPN.
Gustavsson, 30, is a Las Vegas resident and the offer would have to be accepted by Whitecaps owners and approved by the MLS Board of Governors, which also includes plans to build a stadium in that city.
The team will play at a temporary venue until the stadium project is completed. The spokesperson declined to say where the team would initially play.
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News of the bid was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Tamara Gustavsson is Public Storage’s largest shareholder, with a current net worth of $8.6 billion. He B. Wayne Hughes, who founded the company.
“The investment group will privately finance this effort and is not connected to any of the recently announced arena ideas in Las Vegas,” Gustavson’s group said in a statement. “In the coming weeks and months, we look forward to the opportunity to share more, however, out of respect for the league’s deliberations and community stakeholders, we are refraining from sharing the details of our proposal.
“We look forward to continuing to work toward a positive outcome for the game, the fans, the league and Las Vegas.”
Grant Gustavson earned a Bachelor of Business Administration degree in Real Estate Finance from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He was among those who began working with USC’s athletic department to establish its NIL branch. He has also worked with the basketball coaching staff in recruiting and developing rosters. Gustavsson also remains involved in the management of his family farm, which produces thoroughbred racehorses.
The Whitecaps are on sale from December 2024. According to the club, “despite serious negotiations with over 100 parties, no viable proposal has emerged that would keep the club here.”
Although this is the stated preference of both of MLS And in order for the Whitecaps to keep the team in Vancouver, the league has begun exploring the possibility of relocating the team.
Sources tell ESPN A subcommittee of owners met earlier this week to discuss the issue, and in addition to Las Vegas, an investor group from Phoenix has expressed strong interest in acquiring the Whitecaps and relocating the team, which would involve an as-yet unspecified transfer fee.
As far as keeping the team in Vancouver, the Whitecaps’ stadium economics are the primary sticking point. The Whitecaps play at BC Place, which is owned by Pawco, a provincial Crown corporation.
The team recently signed a new lease to play its games at BC Place with better economic terms, including the $1 million to $1.5 million in revenue that Pavco receives from renting the venue to the Whitecaps. But Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster has said the better terms are not enough to make the team financially viable.
Last December, the Whitecaps and the City of Vancouver signed a memorandum of understanding on the potential development of a new stadium and entertainment district at Hastings Park. But at the time of the announcement, Vancouver Mayor Ken Simms said the process would take “more than four years,” a timeline that clearly isn’t quick enough for MLS.
In recent days, MLS Commissioner Don Garber has met with British Columbia Premier David Eby to discuss ways the Whitecaps can remain in Vancouver. Eby told CBC that the talks were “constructive.” The province has offered financial concessions related to BC Place but has declined to purchase the team.
Following his meeting with Garber, Eby told reporters that the province would not transfer control of the provincially owned venue to the Whitecaps in order to stabilize the club’s finances, and he said the team had not expressed any interest in that option.
Meanwhile, the team’s fans have started a “Save the Caps” movement, displaying banners and signs bearing the slogan from last weekend’s match. colorado rapids.
Outside FIFA’s congress in Vancouver on Thursday, about 100 Whitecaps supporters held a rally to protest the potential transfer.
“I think we should all be concerned, and this was well before Vegas came into the picture — we were concerned,” Simm told reporters outside Congress. “We’ve been working on this for over a year. So look, we can’t control what other groups that have an interest in our team do, what they do. We can only control our own destiny.”
Sim sat down with Garber inside the congress and emphasized that the MLS commissioner will remain supportive of the team staying in the city.
“Without going into detail, because it’s not my place to say this, you have a commissioner who wants to see football or soccer succeed in the city of Vancouver, and so I think that’s very promising,” he said.
“At the end of the day, the economics have to work for whoever owns the future. We know in Vancouver, we love the Whitecaps deeply. It’s part of our history. It’s part of our heritage.
“Right now they have a stadium deal that doesn’t really work,” he said, “so we’re working on that.”
ESPN’s Cesar Hernandez contributed to this report.
