It’s simple. It’s annoyingly “representative”: the mountains I can see, but the bits of the water are supposed to be waves? It looks like two Umbro logos tipped on their sides like Coke machines in a high school. The colours are weird, and it’s hard to imagine how it’ll look on an actual uniform. It is such a huge departure from anything the Whitecaps or 86ers have ever had that it forfeits twenty-four years of iconographic legacy.

I think it’s terrific. Look at that thing! The trend in North American soccer lately appears to be towards simple, unambitious logos: witness AC St. Louis, the Philadelphia Union, etc. I think this is the greatest trend of all time. If Real Salt Lake changed their name, MLS would actually look and sound classier than half the leagues in Europe.

In truth, I like it better than the current logo. I feared I’d be alone in this because it’s such a radical departure, but the reaction on the Southsiders forum is almost universally in favour and even the Twittersphere is approving. The old spit-curl-wave logo wasn’t particularly beloved among the fandom (the point of the shield was off-center! You have no idea how much that has fucked me up over the years!) and by disclaiming ambition and shoving-in-every-possible-symbol disease, this logo attains a certain timeless elegance.

If I could change one thing, I might scrub the ‘Vancouver’ and the ‘FC’. It’s the ‘FC’ I particularly dislike – we know you’re a football club, guys; no hockey team could pull off a logo like that. And you’d have to kill the ‘Vancouver’ in the name of balance. Just ‘WHITECAPS’ in big white letters. Yessss. Although that would run the risk of making it look like the icon for a construction company.

Speaking of construction companies, and on an entirely unrelated note, FC Edmonton unveiled their full slate of ticket prices today. The domestic friendly prices are unchanged from what I previously reported, and an end-zone seat at Commonwealth for the premiere international friendlies will set you back $25. Have you ever watched a soccer game from the end-zones at Commonwealth? I cannot physically describe to you how much I don’t recommend it. For a seat you can actually watch a soccer game from, you’re laying out $35. That’s a lot of pie.

They’re setting major-league prices for what is, so far, minor-league talent getting stomped into the FieldTurf by more illustrious adversaries. It would be nice to see Portsmouth or Colo-Colo, of course, if you were a soccer-starved Edmontonian. But if the fan pays $35 to see the famous team, watches the famous team win 6-0 over an overwhelmed FC Edmonton, and then is asked to shell out for season tickets the next year… that can’t be a good start, can it?

Remember all that drama on the BC Place renovations potentially being cancelled? Ah, those were good times. People were panicking, there was a thread on the Southsiders board titled “could our mls dreams be over?” that ran to five pages, there was all sorts of conjecture that the BC Liberals were going to throw the renovations into the can because if there’s anything that British Columbia politicians are known for, it’s fiscal restraint and not buying goodies for downtown Vancouver.

Adding to the ridiculous furore was that BC Place already has a roof. It’s an awful roof, essentially a balloon stretched the concrete block of the stadium, but it keeps rain off unless it bursts, which only happens once in a while. The three advantages of a new roof for the Whitecaps would be that it is retractable, it would allow them to curtain off and conceal the upper decks, turning a cavernous 60,000-seat pillbox into an intimate stadium of 28,000 seats or so, and that it probably won’t kill anybody.

In the renovation package for BC Place approved in January, the roof was pegged at $200 million of the $365 million total cost, all for a stadium that was built for $126 million 1981 dollars. The renderings of the renovated BC Place are attractive, but we’re left with the fact that if the renovations go forward British Columbia taxpayers are paying just south of $400 million to renovate a football stadium to no obvious benefit.

The renovations have little to do with the Olympics and most of them (including the roof) couldn’t possibly be ready by the opening ceremonies. And even if you’re one of the dwindling number of observers who believe that publicly-financed stadia pay for themselves by stimulating growth, it’s even harder to argue that a new roof and nicer concessions for an existing building will have any positive effect.

Best of all, this government boondoggle is being shoved down the Whitecaps’ throats. They don’t actually want the stadium: Whitecaps owner Greg Kerfoot has spent several years trying to build a privately-funded stadium in downtown Vancouver near the Burrard Inlet.

Unfortunately, the Whitecaps Waterfront Stadium bid has been marred by large, well-financed organizations of concerned citizens that don’t actually have any concerned citizens in them as well as Vancouver’s usual population of hippies and kooks who oppose anybody making money off of anything ever. Kerfoot’s proposed site for the stadium, pictured to the left currently houses a parking lot and a helicopter landing pad near some railway tracks, which isn’t anyone’s idea of the Spirit of Old Gastown.

For some reason, although BC Place is a taxpayer-funded scam that is home to the much more popular BC Lions as well as MLS Vancouver, the Whitecaps seem to come in for a unique amount of abuse. The newspaper of Douglas College, displaying the sort of editorial insight and keen journalistic intellect that has been associated with campus newspapers since the dawn of time, ran a satirical article saying that the Whitecaps had eleven fans and they were all drunk drivers. That’s just offensive. If I wrote a post saying that Toronto FC fans were a bunch of Johnny-come-lately types with no interest in the game beyond the south stands at BMO Field, I’m sure somebody would call me out on it.

Objections have included the idea of the Whitecaps tearing down Crab Park (which the proposal doesn’t include, specifically setting the limits to the stadium outside of the park so all the druggies from the Downtown Eastside won’t be disturbed), environmental damage (what, is the stadium being made of uranium and puppy corpses? This isn’t a steel mill.), and, in a few particularly inspired cases, the objection that since Greg Kerfoot is an investor in Vancouver’s Edgewater Casino and therefore those dastardly Whitecaps will secretly slip a casino into this stadium without anybody knowing (seriously).

It’s also said by people who actually have jobs that traffic and spectator density will be an issue. Why this isn’t an issue for the home of the Canucks (GM Place), which is within walking distance, or the million-odd people who commute into downtown every day goes unexplained. Also, nobody is nice enough to mention how having BC Place hosting the Whitecaps in a slightly different part of downtown Vancouver is suddenly much better. Possibly the same magic traffic fairies who brought us “Sure, Let’s Tear Up Granville Street To Build a Subway Line, That Won’t Inconvenience Anybody For Three Years” will take care of this.

The stadium was originally planned to be located near Vancouver’s Waterfront Station over former Canadian Pacific Railway property. The Whitecaps own this site (marked as #1 on the map to the left) but the location was determined to be impractical, causing the Whitecaps to negotiate with the Port Authority for another site directly on the water, nearby the original location but involving the reclamation of some land and the demolition of the Seabus terminal (site #2). Because of the impact on the Seabus and port traffic, negotiations have since moved to another location directly east of that site (#3). The Vancouver port authority has been the main obstacle for getting the stadium approved, but they’ve at least been negotiating (the hot rumour is a land swap between the Whitecaps and the port authority). BC Place is shown to the left as #4, for reference. The distance between the left and right edges of the map is about 1.83 kilometers.

The waterfront location has a number of advantages. Environmentalists and transit wonks should be enthusastic, as it is located almost on top of the Waterfront public transit exchange where the three Skytrain lines, the commuter West Coast Express train, and a bundle of bus routes all intersect. The second plan would have mutilated the Seabus service, but this has been mercifully corrected. The waterfront stadium would be adjacent to Crab Park, but forty-year-old Swangard Stadium is located in Burnaby’s Central Park and so far the park has not been burned down in an alcohol-fueled orgy of destruction. Moreover, unlike western Burnaby, there are a number of taverns and restaurants in Gastown that would benefit from the increased business of a waterfront stadium, and the area is accustomed to handling a large number of revelers.

Ultimately there is no reason not to let the Whitecaps build a stadium on the Vancouver waterfront. The real concerns about earlier proposals have been ironed out, and what’s left is a combination of groundless fearmongering and knee-jerk armchair fascism saying that Private Property is Bad and that we must be careful lest an addict-riddled park be marred by people actually enjoying it. The alternative is a ridiculously expensive and largely unnecessary stadium project being thrust upon an already overtaxed public that will enjoy absolutely zero return on investment.

So it’s only natural that British Columbia is so far taking the insane route.

With the Team 1040 in Vancouver reporting that the Whitecaps will be granted an expansion franchise, things are beginning to look up for club soccer in Canada.  With a healthy MLS franchise in Toronto, the Whitecaps moving up to MLS in 2011, the Montreal Impact continuing to grow, and Eugene Melnyk pining for an MLS franchise in Ottawa, it appears as if the Canadian public, or at least rich guys with a lot of money, are interested in soccer in Canada at the club level.

Eugene Melnyk, the owner of the Ottawa Senators, no doubt gazes at the money-printing success of Toronto FC andnd wants to have a similar cash-cow in Ottawa.  It is my belief that Melnyk’s interest in MLS is not soley based upon the potential dollars, as the sports fan in him would probably love to add a soccer club to his NHL, OHL, and Thoroughbred horse racing properties.  If an MLS franchise was successful in Ottawa, the citizens might benefit from having the franchise and the soccer-specific stadium, while Melnyk would benefit (as a sports fan and as an owner) as well; everyone’s a winner.

Despite the strong ownership Melnyk would bring to MLS, I have to say that I am concerned at the possibility of Ottawa acquiring an MLS expansion team in the near-future.  There are a number of reasons: My own impression that Ottawa is a poor sports town, the success of the Montreal Impact in Montreal, and the absence of a major soccer franchise (and thus, a soccer following) in Ottawa for nearly two decades.  To put it succinctly, it is my belief that Montreal is clearly the best candidate for future Canadian MLS expansion, and Ottawa does not match up.

The poor-sports-town conjecture, it must be said, is based almost mainly upon Ottawa’s lack of support of their two previous Canadian Football League franchise.  That may be unfair, as the Rough Riders had terrible ownership at the end of their history, and the Renegades were an expansion franchise who then ended up with the same terrible ownership at the end of their history (I sense a pattern…).  My pre-concieved notions, if true, can easily be overcome if they are not already.  The Senators have had a fair bit of success at the turnstiles and the OHL’s 67s are well-supported.  Melnyk as an owner would lend credibility to an MLS franchise, something the Gliebermans never had with the CFL, and overcome my nagging doubts.

My opinion is that  the The Montreal Impact are indubitably the obvious choice for future expansion, significantly ahead of Ottawa.  The Impact, like the Vancouver Whitecaps, have been around in the United Soccer League for about a decade and have built a following and brand in their respective cities.  Montreal in particular has gained momentum with their new stadium and CONCACAF Champions League run.  50,000 people filled the white elephant that is Olympic Stadium to watch Montreal play Santos Laguna.  An MLS franchise in Montreal would mean simply a matter of building upon the professional soccer foundation that already exists, and with strong ownership from Saputo and Gillett (assuming Gillett doesn’t go under because of his massive leveraging), would be an unbridled success.

Ottawa does not have any of the built-in following that Montreal has; The last major professional soccer franchise in Ottawa disapeared after the 1990 season, and there has not been one in the city since.  Unlike Montreal and Vancouver, the infrastructure, a following,and a brand would have to be built from scratch, which means that Ottawa would be a higher risk proposition.  The preferred, safer route, for Ottawa would be for Melnyk to get a USL-1 franchise, build a following and the brand among the hardcore soccer fans in the Ottawa area, and, once you have that following, then attempt to obtain an MLS franchise.  It certainly isn’t the sexy route, and the main problem for Melnyk would be convincing the three levels of government that spending money on a stadium for a USL franchise is worthwhile, but it is the safer, long-term route.

When it comes to future MLS expansion in Canada, my biggest fear is that Ottawa will secure a franchise before Montreal does, that franchise will struggle or fail, and MLS will never look to Canada again despite Montreal being a first-rate city in terms of what it could bring to MLS.  Montreal not being in the MLS would be a significant blow to the potential of Canadian soccer at the club and international level, and hopefully Gillett and Saputo obtain a franchise in the next round of expansion.  As for Ottawa, it could work, but I am not as convinced as I am with Montreal.

The Addictive Powers of Football (Worldwide Soccer) Manager

CanadaKicks found a gem of an article from CNN; apparently Football Manager is addictive.  My initial reaction was “of course it is, how else would I have managed Canada in the 2032 World Cup:”, and then I realized the article was serious and thought, “That’s preposterous, sure, I put days into the games, lost track of time, kept clicking continue even though I had other things to do, obsessively thought about my ongoing files while not playing the game, did play-by-play commentary while playing, and did analytical commentary of my games when in the shower, but it’s not like I couldn’t stop; I haven’t played in over a month”.  Is it really addictive?

Ahh, my 2034 World Cup team, now that brings back some memories, and heartbreak, much like Canadian soccer in general.