I’ll admit at first I hated the idea of a MLS team in another big stadium but if this stadium up in Vancouver really gets re-done like this it won’t be a terrible thing at all.

The old Empire Stadium in Vancouver.

Here’s some interesting news about Vancouver’s expansion bid that most may not know of yet. They will have to play in two different stadiums in their first year in Major League Soccer in 2011. The Vancouver Sun is reporting today that due to the renovations to BC Place the expansion Whitecaps (or whatever they will be called) will also play an unknown number of home games at a temporary facility on the old Empire Stadium.

“It means a bit of an inconvenience for a few games, but then there’s a pretty good trade off at the end,” said Lenarduzzi, carekeeper of Greg Kerfoot and Co.’s $35-million investment. “The most important thing was getting the certainty of the retractable roof and everything else that comes with the improvements.”

“They [MLS] were originally concerned, like we all were, but once the financing for the upgrades got done they were more than okay,” Lenarduzzi said. “

Very interesting that we didn’t hear about this until now but I suppose it is better late than never. A lot of clubs go through temporary sites before they get into their home stadiums in this league so we shouldn’t be too concerned over this news. I’d imagine the league may even be able to set the schedule up in a way that sees them on the road early on so they only have to play a game or two at the most at this temporary venue.

Sounds like you have finally count Vancouver’s MLS expansion plan in for good as BC Place will officially be fitted with a retractable roof after the conclusion of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

According to the reports, the roof should still be finished in time for the start of the 2011 season for the Whitecaps.

The Globe and Mail has learned that both B.C. Lions owner David Braley and Vancouver Canucks chairman Francesco Aquilini have expressed interest in partnering with the province.

In theory, either man could help finance the project in exchange for the right to develop provincially owned land – some of the last available real estate in downtown Vancouver – around the stadium. It is also possible that a private investor could demand control over operations of the facility, which is currently held by PavCo, a Crown corporation.

Earlier this season there was reports that the funding had gone dry for this project. Hearing that there could be true hope for this project really helps the Vancouver MLS bid out. Had the roof now been part of the stadium plan there could have been a chance at the league removing the franchise from the city (though honestly I think that was a long shot at happening).

As of today the league should be pretty happy to hear that their two 2011 clubs are in good standing for their stadium situations that have been ongoing since their bids were announced earlier this year.

We’ve had a full day of interesting news with the UEFA Champions League draw, the US Men’s National team roster announcement that took four hours to do, and random news here and there. Time now to close down the day with some links and thoughts on what’s going on.

I wanted to get into some MVP race discussion. I mention earlier that I felt Colorado’s Omar Cummings deserves to be in the discussion, well I have a few other names that are right up there with Cummings.

- Landon Donovan (LA Galaxy): Aside from his 10 goals and five assists, Donovan is the cog that keeps the Galaxy going. When he is on his game the Galaxy are a tough team to beat. You will see that when he is gone with the National team in the coming weeks, LA just doesn’t look the same without him.

- Conor Casey (Colorado Rapids): Current leader in goals in the league with 11 (and one assist). Casey will probably get more mentions than his teammate Cummings due to the number of goals. One thing is certain though, Casey has stepped his game up in a big way this season and the Rapids are finding out just how good he can be.

- Fredy Montero (Seattle Sounders FC): Some may say that there are better candidates on the Sounders’ roster but Montero gets my nod. His 10 goals and six assists is more than enough for me to place him here. We know just how dangerous he can be and when he is on it is something else to see.

- Guillermo Barros Schelotto (Columbus Crew): Before he went out with an injury GBS was the clear favorite in this race but his injury made it worth watching again. He still is up there in the top of the league leaders in goals with 10 and isn’t doing too bad with three assists on the year. If he returns to even half the form we saw out of him early on this season he still has a great shot at another MVP award.

Others to mention:

Shalrie Joseph (New England): Without him the Revs would be dead in the water.

Brad Davis (Houston): While Brian Ching scores all the goals it is Davis who does the dirty work that sets him up.

Cuauhtemoc Blanco (Chicago): While I’m not a fan of his work he is second in the league in assists.

Dwayne De Rosario (Toronto): The Reds wouldn’t even be near playoff contention this year if it weren’t for DeRo.

Got any other names that I am missing?

Continue Reading…

We’ve been talking long and hard about Portland’s troubles with their stadium but now it looks like Vancouver could be joining the mix? While both cities were awarded expansion bids it went with certain stadium situations that the league agreed on. Now Portland seems to have taken care of their issues but now Vancouver could be headed down a tough road of stadium fun.

Reports coming out of Canada suggest the retractable roof plan for BC Place, the home of the Vancouver expansion club, are either on hold or off the table all together.

Construction on the downtown Vancouver stadium was expected to start soon after it serves as host for the opening and closing ceremonies of the 2010 Winter Olympics, and was part of a larger overhaul of the facility that was expected to be finished by the summer of 2011.

But a source told Global News on Tuesday that the roof replacement may no longer be a key government priority and it may be forced to pull its funding in the current economic climate. It means the project could face some serious delays or be cancelled altogether, the report said.

Delays to the upgrade could also jeopardize the city’s hope of landing a Major League Soccer franchise. The Vancouver Whitecaps was awarded the league’s second Canadian franchise in March based on a bid that included a refurbished stadium.

“That won’t be a great scenario for us,” Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi said of the possible delays or cancellations. “The fact that it was going to be an open-air stadium was something that was very appealing to the MLS.”

Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi was on “It’s called Football” (btw, you need to check that show out if you haven’t yet) yesterday and said that he did not expect any problems with the roof at BC Place.

You have to wonder what really is going on surrounding this deal in Vancouver and if it could really hurt the expansion plans there for MLS.

We saw things finally go the right way for MLS in Portland so we can only hope it ends up that way in Vancouver. I’m sure more stories of this will be coming out before long so just stay tuned!

Another cool grass roots effort this time in Vancouver.

Turns our we may not have the Whitecaps in MLS afterall. No they aren’t losing their expansion bid already but they may not be the MLS Whitecaps when they enter the league in 2011. CTV is reporting that Whitecaps President Bob Lenarduzzi says he can’t guarantee that the soccer club will keep the Whitecaps name once its joins the MLS in 2011.

“There are a lot of things we need to make decisions on,” he said. “The Whitecaps name has a lot of equity. There may be people out there that think it may need to be something other than that.”

Still, gaining entry to North America’s top soccer league marks a personal victory for Lenarduzzi, who played for the Whitecaps when they won the North American Soccer League Championship in 1979.

“I honestly didn’t think that there would be an opportunity to recapture what we had back then,” he said.

More than likely this won’t matter much. Seattle faced a similar issue going into their name picking a while back. If enough fans are in love with the Whitecaps name then you can believe they will remain the Whitecaps once they join MLS in a couple years.

Lenarduzzi sounds like a very passionate man too. He also stated he believes the club will do better than both Canadian rival Toronto FC and Cascadia Cup rival Seattle Sounders FC. He like the idea of Vancouver being able to out sell both cities in terms of season tickets.

“There is no doubt in my mind we are a better soccer market than those two,” he said. “I am excited about the prospect.”

It’s certainly possible in a soccer crazy market. I like the lofty goals by Lendaruzzi. Maybe they will come true.