The controversy over the Cascadia Cup trademark has finally concluded, with a deal struck between supporters' groups and Major League Soccer (MLS).
The Cascadia Cup Council, which includes members of soccer fan groups the Vancouver Southsiders, Emerald City Supporters and Timbers Army, announced an agreement in principle July 5 over the dispute with the Vancouver Whitecaps, Seattle Sounders, Portland Timbers and MLS.
The supporters reacted angrily to last December's stealth Canadian application by MLS to own intellectual property rights to the 2004-created trophy, which is awarded by supporters to the Pacific Northwest team that finishes with the best head-to-head record in regular season play.
Southsiders' spokesman Brett Graham said the council will end up as the holder of the trademark on both sides of the border. Title sponsorship of the trophy and competition would require unanimous approval of the supporters clubs, franchises and leagues.
"We remain in control of the trademark the rules of the competition the fans created, we got absolute assurance there wouldn't be a sponsor on it, it would be very difficult to put a sponsor on the trophy," Graham told Business in Vancouver. "We're extremely excited about it, it's been a tonne of conference calls, a tonne of emails back and forth."
MLS commissioner Don Garber told reporters in Vancouver on March 1 that the league should have acted differently.
"We should've reached out to the supporters groups in this region to talk about our desire to do something we still believe is important," Garber said. "The league was not looking to register it to commercialize it."
Graham said MLS "vastly underestimated" the ability of the supporters, who are among the most-loyal season ticket and merchandise buyers.
"We create an atmosphere that is nice for them to sell, in this city we create something that is unique and helps them sell tickets, compared to the Canucks and the Lions," Graham said.
Each of the teams is a three-time winner. The Whitecaps were Cascadia Cup winners in 2004, 2005 and 2008 when the teams were in United Soccer League's First Division.
The Whitecaps host the Sounders at 8 p.m. July 6 and claim to have sold all 21,000 available tickets in their constrained level 2 configuration at 54,500-seat BC Place.
The Sounders edged Vancouver 3-2 on June 8 before 53,679 fans at CenturyLink Field in Seattle.
