From the North Shore Outlook  (July 14, 2010)

http://www.bclocalnews.com/greater_vancouver/northshoreoutlook/opinion/98435664.html

“But imagine if those facilities were built with brick and mortar and the fan-friendly environment replicated in a permanent stadium? Oh yeah, the Vancouver Whitecaps soccer club proposed four years ago to build just such an edifice along the waterfront in Gastown.

That stadium would have seated between 30,000 and 35,000 for soccer, concerts and possibly the BC Lions. Spectators would have enjoyed glorious views of the North Shore mountains and Stanley Park, ready access to Sky Train SeaBus and the West Coast Express, and a plethora of permanent washrooms and concession stands. All for a cost of $70 million, most of it financed by the Whitecaps themselves.

Four years on, as football fans soak up the rays on Hastings Street, the Whitecaps’ stadium proposal is still tied up in legal wrangling and complicated land swap deals that are never likely to be resolved.

And taxpayers are left to ponder the soaking they’ll take for sinking another half-billion dollars into a white elephant stadium that is too big for the city and its modest sports aspirations.”