Grant Gustavson, whose mother is billionaire Tamara Gustavson, is leading an investor group that has made a formal offer to acquire the Vancouver Whitecaps and relocate the team to Las Vegas, a spokesperson for the group confirmed to ESPN.
Gustavson, 30, is a Las Vegas resident and the offer, which would need to be accepted by the Whitecaps owners and approved by the MLS board of governors, includes a plan to build a stadium in that city.
The team would play at a temporary venue until the stadium project is completed. The spokesperson declined to specify where the team would play initially.
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News of the bid was first reported by the Las Vegas Review-Journal.
Tamara Gustavson is the largest shareholder of Public Storage, with a current net worth of $8.6 billion. She is the daughter of B. Wayne Hughes, who founded the company.
“The investment group will privately finance this endeavor and is not connected to any of the recently announced arena ideas in Las Vegas,” Gustavson’s group said in a statement. “In the coming weeks and months, we look forward to the opportunity to share more, however, out of respect for the league’s deliberations and community stakeholders, we are refraining from sharing details of our proposal.
“We look forward to continuing to work for a positive outcome for the game, the fans, the league and Las Vegas.”
Grant Gustavson earned a bachelor’s degree in business administration in real estate finance from the University of Southern California Marshall School of Business. He was among those who started working with USC’s athletic department to establish its NIL arm. He has also worked with the basketball coaching staff in recruiting and developing rosters. Gustavson also remains heavily involved in the management of his family’s farm, which produces thoroughbred racehorses.
The Whitecaps have been up for sale since December 2024. According to the club, despite “serious conversations with over 100 parties, no viable offer has emerged that would keep the club here.”
Although it is the stated preference of both MLS and the Whitecaps to keep the team in Vancouver, the league has begun exploring the possibility of relocating the team.
Sources told ESPN earlier this week that a subcommittee of owners met earlier this month to discuss the issue, and that in addition to Las Vegas, an investor group from Phoenix had expressed strong interest in acquiring the Whitecaps and moving the team, which would include an as yet unspecified relocation fee.
As for keeping the team in Vancouver, the Whitecaps’ stadium economics are the primary sticking point. The Whitecaps play at BC Place, which is owned by the Provincial Crown Corporation, PavCo.
The team recently signed a new lease to play its games at BC Place with improved economic terms, including a return of $1 million to $1.5 million in revenue that PavCo makes from renting the venue to the Whitecaps. But Whitecaps CEO Axel Schuster has said that the improved terms aren’t enough to make the team economically viable.
Last December, the Whitecaps and the City of Vancouver signed a memorandum of understanding on the potential development of a new stadium and entertainment district in Hastings Park. But at the time of the announcement, Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said the process would take “four-plus years,” a timeline that apparently isn’t quick enough for MLS.
In recent days, MLS commissioner Don Garber has met with British Columbia Premier David Eby to discuss ways in which the Whitecaps could remain in Vancouver. Eby told CBC that the talks were “constructive.” The province has offered financial concessions tied to BC Place but has ruled out buying the team.
Following his meeting with Garber, Eby told reporters the province would not transfer control of the provincially owned venue to the Whitecaps to stabilize the club’s finances, and he added that the team has shown no interest in that option.
Meanwhile, the team’s fans have started a “Save the Caps” movement, with banners and signs containing the slogan appearing at last weekend’s match against the Colorado Rapids.
Outside FIFA’s congress in Vancouver on Thursday, about 100 Whitecaps supporters held a rally protesting the possible relocation.
“I think we should all be concerned, and that goes well before Vegas came into the picture — we’ve been concerned,” Sim told reporters outside the congress. “We’ve been working on this for over a year. So look, we can’t control what other groups that have an interest in our team, what they do. All we can do is control our destiny.”
Sim sat alongside Garber inside the congress and stressed that the MLS commissioner remained in support of the team staying in the city.
“Without getting into the details, because it’s not my place to say, you have a commissioner that wants to see football or soccer succeed in the city of Vancouver, and so I think that’s very promising,” he said.
“At the end of the day, the economics have to work for whoever the future owner is. We know in Vancouver, we have a deep love for the Whitecaps. It’s part of our history. It’s part of our heritage.
“They have a stadium deal right now that doesn’t really work,” he said, “so we’re working through that.”
ESPN’s Cesar Hernandez contributed to this report.
