The city of Vancouver announced Thursday that discussions will begin to build a new soccer stadium and keep the MLS runner-up Whitecaps in the Canadian city for the foreseeable future.

Whitecaps CEO and sporting director Axel Schuster, as well as Vancouver mayor Ken Sim, gathered at city hall to reveal that negotiations will begin on a new venue at Hastings Park, which is 17 miles east of the team's current downtown home, BC Place.

The Whitecaps played their inaugural season of 2010 at Empire Stadium before moving into 54,500-capacity BC Place one year later.

The stadium, which is the primary home of the Canadian Football League's BC Lions, is reduced to a 22,120 capacity for MLS games, with seats confined to the lower bowl for all but a select few soccer games.

The venue is set to pla

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