Whitecaps have finally announced their official beer sponsor for their first season in MLS. It doesn't come as a great surprise that they were in need of a new, bigger named partner. Last year The 'Caps were sponsored by Pacific Pilsner (Western Pacific Brewing Co.). They were a great sponsor, but there wasn't a chance in hell they were going to be able to put forth the advertising dollars, and generate the revenues that Budweiser will. The union with Budweiser begins immediately, and will last 5 years. While the deal is with "The Club" it will not crossover to the youth and USL Player Development League teams for obvious reasons. However there will be the opportunity for the deal to include the women's team.[PRBREAK][/PRBREAK]
This move is a big score for local pubs and bars who should now have an incentive to run promotions on game nights and during televised away matches when they are trying to draw fans in to have a cold one (or 8). Budweiser is one of the top selling beers in the province so it is a pretty win win deal as most bars sell it already and its instantly recognizable as a brand. They were major sponsors at the last World Cup and tend to invest heavily in sporting ventures. I'm not going to bother getting too in depth about the business end on this deal I'll just say it makes sense.
Apparently "The Legend" Sam Lenarduzzi worked for Labatts for 20 years!
The real big news came from the individual discussions held with Whitecaps C.E.O. Paul Barber and Howard Crossley; the General Manager at BC Place Stadium.
Paul Barber drew the usual suspects from the group and really didn't hold back on a lot of big questions.
He spoke briefly on a couple topics we've posted about and questioned here on CSN.
The League is going over who will be the National Broadcaster for The 'Caps, and the club is going over the details on deals with a regional T.V. and radio broadcast rights holders will be. All games, home and away are expected to be televised. The television rights holders have been decided on, but have not been announced yet.
The Training Facility is still being worked on, "There is still a ways to go". They have a grass field that visiting clubs will be able to train on but again would not be announced immediately. Proximity to the airport, BC Place and Empire, were all points he brought up and as he put it "too many hills and too much water" are the biggest logistical issues in the search for a permanent training location.
The league still has not released a finalized schedule to the clubs by all accounts. Apparently there is a MLS rule where by which clubs cannot play two home games to end the season. So a home game heavy back end on the schedule is unlikely.
Howard Crossley said that he didn't have any details on Canada's bid for the 2015 Women's World Cup and had no information on whether part of Vancouver's bid has anything to do with the installation of real grass or not. They would be able to put grass in very much in the same way as Seattle did for the recent visit from Manchester United. With that being said the stadium is equipped with FIFA Approved Level 2 Turf. The 'Caps are locked in with BC Place for a Five Year contract with an option to sign for more.
The folks at BC Place are trying to get as many games in for the Whitecaps at BC place as possible. The masts were expected to be up by January 1st but the last two did not go up until January 10th. While it would appear to most as a sign of the construction being behind schedule there are a lot more items being worked on then that one portion, and being a little behind schedule should not set the whole project back. Remember, the roof is only a small part of what is going on over at B.C. Place, as Crossley said in his address, it's basically only the foundation of the old stadium that will remain when it re-opens.
With concerns to Naming Rights, Howard said that they have got it down to two really solid prospects. They expect to have a new name on the building before it is re-opened. I have spoken to Howard on a previous occasion and he told me that stadium's naming rights and the sale of those rights were always a part of the reconstruction deal, and was stipulated in the loan given to them by the Provincial Government. The sale of the stadium's naming rights will go directly into the repayment of that loan. Often times when people look at the half billion dollar cost of this construction project they fail to realize that this is being paid for by the sale of the CP Rail Land, and in actual fact a loan, that will be repaid. The money given to them by the Government often sparks outrage from locals who do not understand that this is not simply the Province footing the bill. I will go in to more detail about the deal with the stadium at another time but for now lets all enjoy a nice cold Bud.
Scroll way down for the promised Bud Girls. I get that it is a lowest common denominator sorta thing but the picture turned out nicely...
All Photo Credits for this piece go to Ian Azariah