Last week our national media was flooded with protests and discussion a about the proposal to move the Vancouver Whitecaps to Los Vegas. The fans rose up in protest.
What is actually at stake here? What values are we supporting or protesting?
Put yourself in the team owner’s shoes. This is a business investment right from the start. He did not purchase the soccer club as his own personal entertainment. This was raw business. Now, there is a very good opportunity to make more if the Whitecaps play football in Los Vegas.
But the Vancouver people have made this team their own. This team belongs to the people of Vancouver. They support them in so many different ways. They feel and live a kinship with this team. The Whitecaps are part of the life of the city of Vancouver.
What are the values that we must pay attention to in this controversy?
Do most parts of our society come down to being valued only in terms of the money they make? Do our relationships with the social reality of a professional football team count?
What values should take prominence in this discussion?
Money is essential to the functioning of any society. But what place must it occupy in our scale of values? We are being put to the test in this controversy.
Who can place a money value on human friendship? Who can measure the value of your grandchildren bursting into your hospital room and giving you one big hug? Who can value in monetary terms when your friend drives through the middle of the night to help you in a crisis?
Now, in this Vancouver controversy, if making money is the most important goal, then the sale of this team to Los Vegas is a good deal. This is raw capitalism working at its best.
But if the social values of love for the Whitecaps and the joy and friendship that they bring to the people of Vancouver, then we recognize what has first value in our society.
This controversy will help identify where each one of us stands in regard to what is of first importance to the thriving of human life.
Wh\ere do you stand on this issue?
