Murray Mollard: Time for a new Vancouver soccer stadium 

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That’s a 50-year wrap on Vancouver professional soccer history.

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In their golden anniversary year, the Vancouver Whitecaps’ championship dreams came to an end on a Hollywood pitch, losing a tight match 1-0 to LAFC.

Highlighted by a Messi no-show, but a fabulous season from their star captain Ryan Gauld and a short but strong playoff performance, the Whitecaps made their year-long golden birthday party ultimately memorable.

And Caps fans got to watch an emphatic home playoff victory when we beat L.A. 3-0 in the second of the best-of-three-match series.

It almost didn’t happen.

With the Whitecaps’ late-season swoon, they dropped to eighth place in the Western Conference, only just good enough to host the wild card match against the ninth-seed Portland Timbers.

But because B.C. Place Stadium was booked for a souped-up dirt bike race, the World Supercross Championship in October, the Caps played their “home” match in Portland, where they pounded the “visiting” Timbers 5-0 in a spectacular display of offensive soccer.

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The Caps’ 50th birthday party kicked off the same way — hosting our first home match on a foreign pitch. Due to the annual Home and Garden Show, the Whitecaps’ CONCACAF Champions Cup match on Feb. 7 against the UNAL Tigres was played at Langford’s Starlight Stadium. Dirt bike races and a garden show take priority over the Whitecaps at B.C. Place.

If the Whitecaps had made a long run to the MLS championship game, chances are they would have played away due to their low ranking. Unless, of course, Atlanta makes it to the final. And why couldn’t they? They upset favoured Lionel Messi and his Inter Miami teammates in the first round. In theory, a Whitecaps vs Atlanta title match would be played at B.C. Place because the Caps had more regular season points than Atlanta. And what if the Caps had finished higher in the standings, giving them an even better shot at hosting the championship match if they made it all the way?

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But guess what? Even if that long shot of a final could happen, the Whitecaps would not be able to play the championship match at home on Dec. 7, the date MLS has scheduled the final. Why? Yes, that’s right. B.C. Place stadium is unavailable as it hosts Taylor Swift and her Eras tour Dec. 6, 7 and 8.

Camp Nou. Anfield. La Bombonera. Santiago Bernabéu. Celtic Park. Emirates.

All these iconic football stadiums have one thing in common. They are owned by their football clubs:  Barcelona, Liverpool, Boca Juniors, Real Madrid, Celtic and Arsenal. Heck, Chelsea’s home pitch, Stamford Bridge, is owned by Chelsea Pitch Owners, a group of Chelsea fans.

Owning your own stadium comes with a couple of perks. You get priority. You get stadium event revenues.

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And you could get real grass. Back in September, my son and I had the pleasure of playing on the turf at B.C. Place, part of a Whitecaps supporters’ group challenge match between the Southsiders (the old guys) and the younger, spry Albion supporter group. I was somewhat surprised at the poor quality of the turf.

In the lead-up to the Whitecaps home match against LAFC, L.A. midfielder John O’Brien was asked about playing previously on the B.C. Place turf: “Yeah, it probably took me an extra few days to recover from the game.”

Whitecaps players or officials might not say it, but I will. Players would much, much rather play on natural grass.

With our new professional women’s soccer team Vancouver Rise kicking off in 2025 in the Northern Super League, two professional teams would make a Vancouver soccer-specific stadium more viable.

Is it too much to ask when you hit 50 to have your own place you can really call home?

Murray Mollard is writing a book about soccer in Canada.

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