Vancouver Whitecaps signing new one-year lease on B.C. Place: CEO

By Canadian Press on February 5, 2026.

VANCOUVER — The Vancouver Whitecaps will play at B.C. Place this year after the Major League Soccer club came to an agreement on a new lease with the provincial Crown corporation that owns and operates the stadium.

Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster says the club has accepted an offer from PavCo and lawyers for both sides are working on the wording for a one-year deal.

The two sides have long been negotiating a new lease for the 55,000-seat stadium in downtown Vancouver, and the team signed a memorandum of understanding with the City of Vancouver in December over exploring the viability of building a new stadium on the city’s eastern edge.

British Columbia’s minister of economic growth Ravi Kahlon said on Tuesday that PavCo offered to return the approximately $1 million to $1.5 million it makes annually from hosting the Whitecaps back to the club.

Schuster says the new deal is “a little step” towards the club’s long-term financial stability and that “25 to 30 more of these little steps or it needs a few big steps to really get in safe water.”

He adds the Whitecaps are exploring many avenues for revenue, including naming rights for the stadium or playing field, and they need more help from Vancouver’s business community.

This report by The Canadian Press was first published Feb. 5, 2026.

The Canadian Press