The Vancouver Whitecaps are entering their seventh season in Major League Soccer, and the effect of time has helped make the team a fixture in Vancouver, says co-owner Steve Nash.
The former NBA star participated in a media scrum in Vancouver on Monday, and spoke about a number of topics related to his post-playing days and the state of the Whitecaps.
"I just love our project," he said." I think our fans are growing in number and that traditional fabric that a club gets over the years. You can feel it every year, the fans have more of a feeling of investment in the city and province. So that's been fantastic to feel the growth every year, from a fan standpoint."
Nash, who spends considerable time away from his native British Columbia, said he nevertheless watches nearly every Whitecaps game on his computer, and "lives and dies with every result."
Coming off a disappointing season in which the Whitecaps failed to make the MLS Cup Playoffs after a strong 2015 campaign, Nash was asked about the club's reluctance to sign a big-name Designated Player, and he explained the reality that guides their decision making in that realm.
"The DP situation is difficult. Everyone wants their club to sign a world-beater, but the reality is how many of them are available and how many of them are in the right stage of their career where you want to invest that type of money in them? That's difficult, it's really difficult.
"So I can understand how a fan wants a big jazzy name up there on the marquee every night, but at the same time it's not the easiest thing to find one that's going to fit your group and make your team better. Especially in the game of soccer, I think you see transitioning to a new team in a new league can be very difficult. So what a guy's done in another league, for the most part, is what he's done elsewhere. To come in here in a new environment, playing on different surfaces, in different cities and climates, in a different league is sometimes much more difficult. So I think we have to be very cautious, how we approach that."
You can watch the full interview in the video above.
