are 70 men and yourself. I think
as female leaders, we need to
continue to create opportuni-
ties for young women to seek
a career path in sports and see
it as something that they can
choose and be successful at.
All the data shows that having
a diverse leadership team cre-
ates better organizations, and
I think sports still has a way to
come in this, but I've been very
fortunate to have great opportu-
nity in my roles.
Have you dealt with resent-
ment from males, or closet
sexism?
There have de•nitely been
moments in my career where
someone's mistaken me for the
executive assistant as opposed
to the
COO. And, you know, I
think that's just unfortunately
the reality of what we're still
dealing with. It's getting better,
but we need to rise to the
occasion and not accept those
kinds of stigmas. Thankfully
that's never come from within
my organization.
The Whitecaps were one of
the best teams in the league
for attendance last season.
Where do you see the team
going from here? Is there
more room to grow?
Absolutely. I think we have so
much room still to grow, and
that's what's really exciting.
We're only seven to eight years
into Major League Soccer
here, and our fan base is great,
it's growing every year, the
engagement in the community
is fantastic. But there's so much
more opportunity. Atlanta
came in this year with 70,000
fans. The great thing about BC
Place is that we have the oppor-
tunity to expand our capacity
and grow. Our objective over
the next few years is to •ll that
lower bowl and bring home a
championship. We need to do
both, and they fuel each other.
Can you compete with the
bigger franchises? Seattle is
a powerhouse, as are Toronto
and New york. Do you think
the Whitecaps have the
potential to get there?
Absolutely. There's no question.
The great thing about Major
League Soccer is that there's a lot
of parity among the teams. You
look at the •nal playoˆ spots this
year, and you've got Columbus
and Houston and Toronto and
Seattle, and they represent a
fairly broad spectrum of teams
and spending and styles of play.
In any given year, teams are
competitive. We continue to get
better and better, and we have
to •nd our way deeper into the
playoˆs and bring home the Cup.
This interview has been edited
MOnEY BALL
uS$40 million
Expansion fee the
whitecaps paid
when the team
entered the MLs in
2009. the 2017 fee
for incoming clubs
was Us$150 million
uS$150 million
the whitecaps' cur-
rent worth, accord-
ing to Forbes, which
puts the team third-
last in the league
40%
share of total rev-
enue that the team
spent on player
salaries in 2017. the
team's salary outlay
was Us$20 million,
versus Us$22 mil-
lion for toronto FC,
which won the MLs
Cup last year
soUrces: forBes,
maJor leagUe soccer
players association,
sports illUstrated
