Hello!

With a few more days of the pricing adjustment sinking in, I should share that I'm lean more heavily towards passing up my seats after this season. I do appreciate the few of you who reached out with ideas, but realistically the budget is the budget and short of going down to one seat - which is the possibility I'm still considering - I'm not certain how to make things work.

What surprises me the most about this is how down I’ve been about giving the tickets up. I kid you not when I say that it’s been a constant in my everyday thought processes, which considering the state of world affairs and how well of a worrier I am, says quite a bit about my passion as a Whitecaps FC supporter.

The View

• How about that pitch in Chicago last night? For all the stick that the turf at BC Place gets, it certainly looks better than what we saw in Solider Field. The only thing that could’ve made it worse was a ball diamond carved into it.

• What are your thoughts on that Starting XI? I might have started Thomas Müller and Yadaly Diaby over Aleksa Cvetković and Cheikh Sabaly, but with an eye to LAFC this weekend it was likely the right choice from Jesper. I also wonder when Sam Adekugbe gets a start over Tate Johnson in MLS action, if only to give Tate a rest.

• Speaking of defense, man oh man does it look like Tristan Blackmon is absolutely spent. Short of Ranko Veselinović becoming match fit overnight or Ralph Priso making an miraculous recovery, not sure how he gets a chance to catch his breath.

• And I love Mathías Laborda, but I love him more out wide. He’s an adequate fill-in at centre back, but watching him do whatever he was doing on that first Chicago Fire goal - giving Bamba all that space - is what drives me nuts. The ‘Caps had plenty of support in coverage, so Mati needs to step in there.

The Good

• That the sun rose this morning? Honestly, I’m not certain if there was any good from that match despite the ‘Caps scoring a goal in the second to make it interesting for a spell.

The Not So Good

• Whitecaps FC Defending. Obviously the team isn’t the same with Andrés Cubas not in the lineup, but the defensive blunders as significant as they have been over the past few matches, it’s hard to see how he’s the only missing piece.

• The play-by-play. I get that it’s a tough job, but who the heck provides these guys their notes? Apparently Rui Modesto was replaced by new recruit Rui Modest. Not to mention Emmanuel Sabbi left the match as a substitute, magically reappeared on the pitch for a good spell, only to be substituted off again. What I would give to be able to listen to the ‘Caps radio broadcast every Apple TV match.

The Touchline

• I had a chance to speak to someone in the know to get their take on the ticket pricing adjustments. For what it is worth, they think this was to coincide with an announcement the ‘Caps would be managing The Dome, with earlier released messaging and explanations. Unfortunately for them, they held off on things while waiting for the “deal,” only for an election to get called instead.

• Maybe I’m simply oblivious to things outside of Vancouver, but the San Jose Earthquakes have also been on the market since 2025. Why does this matter? Here you have a team that also owns their own stadium, yet remain on the market. Having scratched the surface a bit, there’s a suggestion the desire of the league is the sort out the Whitecaps FC before sorting out the Earthquakes. But might I offer up an alternative? Is it possible that prospective owners are less enthused by the Messi-inflated valuations and the potential for those bubbles to burst?

• While this rough quote is from Luigi Aquilini, the patriarch of the owners of the Vancouver Canucks, it seems salient all things considered: “The real money comes in the buy, not in the sale.” Have to think any new owner shares a similar opinion.

I really hope we see a much better showing against LAFC this weekend. Sure the few days between leaves Jesper little time to make adjustments or to refresh the system, but something needs to happen before the ‘Caps find themselves sliding out of top in the West.