Vancouver on MLS radar

"It is a very soccer-oriented city," commissioner Don Garber said yesterday after Seattle was awarded a franchise for 2009. "Very, very international."

Garber said Vancouver is a candidate to join by 2010, but only if the proposed waterfront stadium is approved.

He said groups from 11 other cities - including Portland and Montreal - are vying to join the league, which hopes to have 18 teams by 2012.

Greg Kerfoot, who owns the Whitecaps, wants to privately finance Vancouver's $75 million, 15,000-seat stadium. TransLink nixed the proposed SeaBus terminal site. The Whitecaps must settle on a new location, negotiate a land swap with the port and gain Transport Canada's approval before returning to city council for rezoning.

"What we can't afford to keep doing is talking endlessly," said Whitecaps president Bob Lenarduzzi. "Four years is way too long. There needs to be some resolution."

Seattle Sounders owner Adrian Hanauer joined Paul Allen, Hollywood producer Joe Roth and funnyman Drew Carey to buy the MLS' 15th franchise. The Sounders will defend their United Soccer Leagues' First Division title in 2008 before joining MLS a year later. Qwest Field will remain home.