Whitecaps and MLS Settle Class Action Over Messi No-Show

The Vancouver Whitecaps and Major League Soccer are paying out a combined CAD $475,000 (roughly $347,000 USD) after a class action lawsuit over a 2024 game where Lionel Messi was plastered all over the marketing — and then didn't show up.

Here's what happened: ahead of Inter Miami's visit to Vancouver on May 25, 2024, the Whitecaps went all-in on promoting the match around Messi, Luis Suárez, and Sergio Busquets. Ticket prices surged. The club organized its "largest ever" street party. They expected a record-breaking crowd of over 50,000.

Then, two days before kickoff, the Whitecaps announced that Messi, Suárez, and Busquets wouldn't be making the trip. Inter Miami's head coach said he was resting the players due to a packed schedule. The club offered 50% off stadium food and a free ticket to a future game — but fans weren't having it.

A British Columbia resident named Ho Chun filed a class action, alleging the league and club used the star players as "bait" to sell tickets at roughly ten times the price of a normal Whitecaps home game. The lawsuit called it a "classic case of bait-and-switch" and alleged violations of Canada's Federal Competition Act and British Columbia's consumer protection laws.

MLS and the Whitecaps denied any wrongdoing and said the claim was without merit — but agreed to settle to avoid further legal costs.

The British Columbia Supreme Court approved the settlement on March 3, 2026. Justice Andrew Majawa called it "fair."

Where does the money go?

Unlike most class action settlements, this one doesn't pay out to individual fans. Instead, the CAD $475,000 will be donated to three youth sports charities — KidSport BC, Canada SCORES, and BGC South Coast BC — after legal fees of $156,000 and a $1,500 payment to the lead plaintiff.

The settlement also requires the Whitecaps to update their ticketing terms to clearly state that player participation cannot be guaranteed, and that player images in marketing are "for reference purposes only." That language has been added to both the team's website and Ticketmaster.

The bigger picture

This is a sign of the times for MLS. The entire league leaned into Messi-mania to sell tickets and drive revenue — and when the biggest draw didn't show, fans pushed back. The settlement doesn't set a legal precedent, but it does put teams on notice: if you market around a specific player, you'd better manage expectations.

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