BC Place

BC Place is a multi-purpose stadium located at the north side of False Creek, in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada. It is owned and operated by the BC Pavilion Corporation (PavCo), a crown corporation of the province. It is currently the home of the BC Lions of the Canadian Football League (CFL) and Vancouver Whitecaps FC of Major League Soccer (MLS) as well as the BC Sports Hall of Fame. The stadium also served as the main stadium for the 2010 Winter Olympics and 2010 Paralympics which Vancouver hosted.

The stadium opened on June 19, 1983 and was built as an indoor structure with an air-supported roof, the largest of its kind in the world upon its opening. Following the 2010 Winter Olympics, BC Place was closed for several months as part of an extensive revitalization, the centrepiece of which was replacing the inflatable roof with a retractable roof supported by cables. Once construction was completed, the stadium's new roof was also the largest of its type.

History

Construction of the stadium started in 1981 and was completed in 1983. BC Place was built as part of the preparations for the 1986 World's Fair, Expo 86. The stadium was the world's largest air-supported domed stadium until May 4, 2010 when it was deflated for the last time in preparation for the erection of its new retractable roof. Its original air-supported design was similar to the Hubert H. Humphrey Metrodome in Minneapolis, Minnesota which was home to the Minnesota Vikings National Football League team.

Place

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NBC Deportes

NBC Deportes is the programming division of the NBC Sports Group, owned by the NBCUniversal Television Group division of NBCUniversal, that is responsible for the production of sports events and magazine programs that air on NBCUniversal's Spanish language television networks Telemundo and NBC Universo. Originating as the former's sports division Deportes Telemundo from 1999 to 2015, it broadcasts an array of sports events, including the association football matches from various international soccer leagues and the Olympic Games, among others.

History

Origins as Deportes Telemundo

The division was originally formed in 1987 as Deportes Telemundo, which at first exclusively served as the sports division of Telemundo, with the acquisition of rights to soccer matches to select teams from the Mexican Primera División (now Liga MX). Following NBC's $2.7 billion purchase of Telemundo Communications Group on October 11, 2001, Deportes Telemundo began to gradually be integrated into NBC Sports, although it would maintain sports programming rights separate from the main NBC broadcast network and its sister cable channels. Under NBC (which ironically lost the rights to the league that year to ABC), On August 20, 2002, Telemundo signed a three-year agreement with the National Basketball Association (NBA) for the Spanish language broadcast rights to 15 NBA and up to ten WNBA regular season games; Telemundo and the NBA did not renew the deal upon its expiration following the 2004–05 season.

British Columbia

British Columbia, also commonly referred to by its initials BC, is a province located on the west coast of Canada. British Columbia is also a component of the Pacific Northwest and the Cascadia bioregion, along with the US states of Idaho, Oregon, Washington and Alaska The province's name was chosen in 1858 by members of the Hudson's Bay Company. In 1871, it became the sixth province of Canada. Its Latin motto is Splendor sine occasu ("Splendour without Diminishment").

The capital of British Columbia is Victoria, the fifteenth-largest metropolitan region in Canada, named for the Queen who created the Colony of British Columbia. The largest city is Vancouver, the third-largest metropolitan area in Canada, the largest in Western Canada, and the second-largest in the Pacific Northwest. In October 2013, British Columbia had an estimated population of 4,606,371 (about 2.5 million of whom were in Greater Vancouver). The province is currently governed by the BC Liberal Party, led by Premier Christy Clark, who became leader as a result of a leadership convention vote on February 26, 2011, and who led her party to an election victory on May 14, 2013.

Vancouver Whitecaps FC

Vancouver Whitecaps FC is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver, British Columbia that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) in the Western Conference of the league. The Whitecaps are the 17th team of Major League Soccer and replaced the USSF Division 2 team of the same name. The club has been owned and managed by the same group since their USSF days, having graduated to MLS after the conclusion of the USSF's 2010 season. The MLS version of the team is the third to share the legacy of the Whitecaps name. In the 2012 season, the team became the first Canadian team to qualify for the MLS Cup Playoffs.

History

An ownership group in Vancouver were granted the seventeenth Major League Soccer franchise on March 18, 2009 by MLS Commissioner Don Garber. While no name was provided at the Vancouver announcement, over a year later the club confirmed it would keep the Whitecaps name.

In preparation for its first MLS season, the Whitecaps brought in executive talent from around the world. On November 24, 2009, Paul Barber, former Tottenham Hotspur F.C. executive, was announced to join the club as CEO. Others joining him included former D.C. United head coach Tom Soehn as Director of Operations and Dutch national Richard Grootscholten as the Technical Director and head coach of the residency program.