VANCOUVER, British Columbia (AP) — An investment group has come forward to buy the Vancouver Whitecaps and relocate the Major League Soccer club to Las Vegas.
The group is led by Grant Gustavson, grandson of B. Wayne Hughes, the founder of Public Storage. The Whitecaps were put up for sale 16 months ago, but no potential buyers had emerged publicly until Thursday.
“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,” Gustavson said in a statement. “We look forward to continuing to work for a positive outcome for the game, the fans, the league and Las Vegas.”
Gustavson said the investment group will privately finance the deal to buy the team and relocate it and it is “not connected to any of the recently announced arena ideas in Las Vegas.”
Major League Soccer has said it would "evaluate all options” for the future of the Whitecaps, including a possible move. The team currently plays at BC Place, which will host seven games of this summer's World Cup. But the league has said the lease situation with the stadium is untenable and would prefer a soccer-specific stadium for the team.
“It’s reaching a critical point,” MLS Commissioner Don Garber said Tuesday during a meeting with the Associated Press Sports Editors in New York.
Garber cited strict schedule restrictions from the government entity that owns and operates the building and an inability to add premium seating.
British Columbia’s government said Tuesday it is working with the Whitecaps to help the team lower costs and generate more revenue at BC Place — but it won’t be buying the team to prevent it from moving cities.
The team's supporters were at Thursday's meeting of the FIFA Congress in Vancouver, many waving signs that read “Save the 'Caps.” Posters with the words were plastered across downtown.
Ravi Kahlon, B.C.’s minister of jobs and economic growth, said the team is now using the stadium at no cost, and any breaks that the team received this year could be extended for another year.
“Look, I think we should all be concerned,” Vancouver Mayor Ken Sim said following the congress at the Vancouver Convention Center. “And that goes well before Vegas came into the picture. We've been concerned. We've been working on this for more than a year. 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 added that the city has identified a site where a new owner could build a stadium and entertainment district without taxpayer dollars. The next step would be a bridge deal with the province.
The Whitecaps and the provincial government — which owns BC Place through the provincial Crown corporation PavCo — signed a one-year lease earlier this year, which annually returns to the club about $1 million to $1.5 million that the province makes from hosting.
Garber has expressed hope the Whitecaps could find a way to remain in Vancouver and said expansion to Las Vegas could also be a possibility. Las Vegas is not necessarily the only city being discussed.
In a statement earlier this week, the Whitecaps said it had “serious conversations with more than 100 parties, and to date, no viable offer has emerged that would keep the club here.”
“The club has faced well-documented structural challenges around stadium economics, venue access, and revenue limitations that have made it difficult to attract buyers committed to keeping the team in Vancouver.”
A franchise fee that costs tens of millions of dollars to enter MLS 15 years ago is now worth hundreds of millions. In May 2023, a $500 million expansion fee was paid to secure the league’s 30th team in San Diego.
AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Fans of the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS soccer team rally to keep the team in Vancouver, Thursday, April 30, 2026, outside the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
Fans of the Vancouver Whitecaps MLS soccer team rally to keep the team in Vancouver, Thursday, April 30, 2026, outside the 76th FIFA Congress in Vancouver, British Columbia. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP)
HUNTSVILLE, Texas (AP) — A North Texas man who claimed he wasn’t the shooter in a fatal robbery that killed two people nearly 18 years ago and who said prosecutors misused rap lyrics he wrote to secure his death sentence was executed Thursday evening.
James Broadnax was pronounced dead at 6:47 p.m. after receiving a lethal injection at the state penitentiary in Huntsville, about 70 miles (113 kilometers) north of Houston.
He was condemned for the 2008 shooting deaths of two men outside a suburban Dallas music studio. Prosecutors say Broadnax and his cousin, Demarius Cummings, fatally shot and robbed Stephen Swan and Matthew Butler in the parking lot of Butler’s recording studio in Garland. Cummings was sentenced to life without parole.
Broadnax was defiant in a final statement in which he also sought forgiveness from relatives of the victims in the crime.
The execution also was punctuated by screams of “I love you” from his wife, who also was among witnesses to the punishment.
Prosecutors said Broadnax, 37, confessed to the shooting, telling reporters during jailhouse interviews that “I pulled the trigger” and that he had no remorse.
Earlier Thursday, the U.S. Supreme Court denied a request by Broadnax’s attorneys to stop his execution.
His lawyers had focused his final appeals on two issues: Cummings had recently confessed to being the shooter; and Broadnax’s constitutional rights were violated because prosecutors eliminated potential jurors during his trial on the basis of race.
“I’m really gonna tell it like it’s supposed to be told, that it was me, that I was the killer. I shot Matthew Bullard, Steve Swann,” Cummings said recently from prison in a video created as part of the efforts to stop Broadnax’s execution.
Broadnax’s attorneys said in court filings with the high court that Cummings’ confession is “corroborated by the fact that his DNA, and not Mr. Broadnax’s, was found on the murder weapon and in the pocket of one of the victims.”
In the film, Broadnax said his confession was false because at the time he didn’t care about his life. Broadnax’s lawyers say he was under the influence of drugs during the television interviews.
He also apologized to the families of Butler and Swan for taking part in the robbery.
“I wish I could show them my soul, so they could see just how sorry I am. I am very much remorseful for everything that happened,” Broadnax said.
His attorneys also alleged prosecutors dismissed all seven potential Black jurors on the basis of their race, “utilizing a spreadsheet during jury selection that bolded only the names of every Black juror,” according to court documents. One Black juror was later reinstated to the jury. Broadnax was Black.
In a 1986 ruling known as Batson v. Kentucky, the U.S. Supreme Court determined that excluding jurors because of their race violated the Equal Protection Clause of the 14th Amendment.
Broadnax’s attorneys had argued in an earlier appeal that prosecutors had violated his constitutional rights by using some of the rap lyrics he wrote to portray him as a violent and dangerous person in order to secure a death sentence. A number of A-list rappers, including Travis Scott,T.I. and Killer Mike, had filed briefs at the Supreme Court in support of Broadnax’s appeal.
But the high court rejected that appeal as well as another that focused on how forensic evidence was presented at his trial.
The Texas Board of Pardons and Paroles on Tuesday denied Broadnax’s request for a 180-day reprieve or to commute his death sentence.
The Texas Attorney General’s Office described Cummings’ confession as the shooter as “questionable new evidence.” It also said in court documents Broadnax’s claims that potential Black jurors were targeted for removal are “entirely meritless” as these jurors were stricken not because of race but because of their answers during questioning, including that some opposed the death penalty.
Theresa Butler, Matthew Butler’s mother, had asked that the execution proceed.
“This so called confession from cummings is just a stall tactic by Broadnax’s desperate defense team. Its all a lie,” Butler wrote in a post on social media.
Broadnax was the third person put to death this year in Texas and the 10th in the country. Texas has historically held more executions than any other state.
About an hour before Broadnax’s execution on Thursday, Florida put to death James Ernest Hitchcock, 70, for beating and choking his 13-year-old step-niece to death.
Lozano reported from Houston. Follow Juan A. Lozano: https://x.com/juanlozano70
This undated photo provided by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice on Wednesday, April 29, 2026, shows Texas death row inmate James Broadnax. (Texas Department of Criminal Justice via AP)
FILE - The main entrance of the building housing the execution chamber at the Huntsville Unit of the Texas State Penitentiary is seen, Oct. 17, 2024, in Huntsville, Texas. (AP Photo/Michael Wyke, File)
