Whitecaps' inaugural MLS game almost sold out

The headache of juggling two venues hasn't stopped the Vancouver Whitecaps from becoming a hit with local fans in their inaugural Major League Soccer season.

The Whitecaps are close to selling out their first MLS game March 19 against Canadian rival Toronto FC. The club is also only about 1,000 sales short of reaching its goal of selling 16,500 season-tickets this year.

Vancouver opens the season playing at Empire Field, a temporary outdoor venue.

The club won't move into the newly renovated B.C. Place Stadium until Oct. 2, when Vancouver faces the Portland Timbers, the MLS's other expansion team this year. The Whitecaps will play their final three regular-season games at B.C. Place.

"It's a challenge," Whitecaps chief executive officer Paul Barber said Thursday. "We're selling season tickets for one stadium, but expecting people to sit in another.

"It's a slightly strange process we are going through. I can't remember a football club in my experience having to do anything quite like this."

While the circumstances may be unique, Barber has been impressed with the response so far.

"We're heading in a great direction," said Barber. "Now we are getting to the point where we're locking down March 19 and thinking about the rest of the season."

Now that MLS has announced its schedule and the team is confident with the fan support, the Whitecaps are looking to bring a major European club to play an exhibition game at Empire Field either in the spring or summer.

"We've been talking to a couple of European teams," said Barber, the former executive director of Tottenham Hotspur of the English Premier League. "Now whether we can pull that off or not, we still have a lot of work to do.

"We think we can make it fit within the schedule."

With the Whitecaps' opening game just over three weeks away, the team has sold around 18,000 tickets. Empire Field seats around 21,000 for soccer.

The club put single-game tickets for the match on sale Wednesday and sold 2,500 in 24 hours.

"That has blown us away," said Barber.

The Whitecaps plan to hold back some tickets for community soccer teams and groups. The number of available seats is running out but Barber doesn't want to declare a sellout yet.

"I don't want to turn off the tap of demand because there is still a lot out there," he said. "We are pushing people to act quickly because we don't want people to be disappointed."

Vancouver built a sold fan base during its days in the North American Soccer League. When the NASL folded, the Whitecaps continued to draw devoted crowds to the 5,288-seat Swangard Stadium as Vancouver fielded clubs in the United Soccer Leagues and United States Soccer Federation Division 2.

Empire Field is a 27,500-seat venue located on the Pacific National Exhibition grounds in East Vancouver. The CFL's B.C. Lions played there last season.

B.C. Place, located in Vancouver's downtown core, is undergoing $565 million in renovations, including a retractable roof.

The Lions are scheduled to play the first game in the building Sept. 30 against the Edmonton Eskimos.

The soccer configuration at B.C. Place is for 20,000 seats.

"We've been selling the season tickets for B.C. Place in terms of where people sit," said Barber. "Then, what the ticketing guys have been doing is translating those positions, as best they can, to fit Empire.

"If you have a sideline seat at B.C. Place, you'll be on a sideline at Empire. It may not be the exact row or the exact seat, but it's going to be close."

Barber hopes for smooth sailing this season but knows there's a chance of stormy seas as the Whitecaps adjust to both their new homes.

"I'm sure there is going to be challenges in those first few games (at Empire Field), there always is," he said. "I'm sure there will be challenges going back to B.C. Place later in the year.

"We're working very hard to minimize any inconvenience. We know it's not an ideal world."

Fans have been willing to embrace MLS expansion teams.

Toronto FC capped its 2007 season-tickets sales at 14,000, setting a league record. The team, heading into its fifth season, has never made the playoffs but continues to draw large crowds to BMO Field.

Earlier this month Portland said it has surpassed 11,000 season-tickets sold. The Timbers plan to cap their season tickets at 12,000.

The Seattle Sounders, who joined MLS in 2009, have sold out every league match. The team had an average attendance of 36,000 last year in its second season.