Written for Daily Hive Urbanized by Ross Marshall, who is a Senior Vice-President of commercial real estate firm CBRE, and the Managing Director and a founding shareholder of Pacific FC. Every day of the week, soccer pitches across Victoria and Vancouver Island are packed with kids. As soon as one practice or match ends, another group is already lining up to take the field. There are tournaments and road trips; parents crowd the sidelines, parking lots overflow, and cars line the surrounding streets. Soccer is having a real moment on the Island. With Vancouver hosting the world's biggest sporting event this summer, the FIFA World Cup is set to elevate that momentum even further. I am from the Island, living and running a real estate business on the Island, and proud to lead the Island's first and only ever professional soccer club. As of April last year, I have served as Managing Director of Pacific FC, which competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) -- Canada's domestic men's league. I have been involved with the club since its launch in 2019 as one of its founding investors. During that time, we have won the national league, defeated the Whitecaps, and seen a team from Vancouver Island compete in the CONCACAF League against some of the best clubs in the region. In many ways, investing in a professional sports team mirrors investing in real estate. In real estate, investors are always in search of that trophy asset -- the rare opportunity with "hair on the deal," offering a clear value-add or repositioning opportunity and tremendous upside potential. Those are the assets sophisticated buyers chase. Today, that same mindset is driving a wave of investment into professional sport ownership. Private equity groups, institutional investors, and even global celebrities like Ryan Reynolds and Tom Brady are pursuing clubs as a dynamic and fast-growing asset class. Pacific FC embodies that kind of opportunity -- a well positioned asset with a compelling repositioning story and exceptional upside within the Canadian Premier League, a market still in its infancy. Just as in real estate, early movers in emerging markets tend to realize the greatest returns. Much like an emerging market poised for rapid appreciation, the sport's value and visibility are about to accelerate dramatically. The Canadian market, and this league, are in their infancy. Soccer in Canada is on the verge of an unprecedented boom -- one that will ignite national pride, attract global attention, and elevate the sport's commercial and cultural presence to levels never seen before. Soccer has always been such a big part of my life growing up -- it gave me a great sense of community, connection, and lifelong friendships. I played locally with Gorge FC, Prospect Lake, Lower Island Metro, and then for BCIT. But at the age of 18, like most young Canadian players before the creation of the CPL, there was no domestic pathway like there is now from grassroots or university soccer to try and become a pro. So when the opportunity presented itself to get involved with Pacific FC, I jumped at it. I could take my business background and combine that with my passion for the game and give back to the Island and the young boys and girls playing in the Lower Island Soccer Association now. Over the years, I have invited clients or partners from my business life out to our Pacific FC games, and whether they're real estate development companies or law firms or insurance companies, every time they tell me about the amazing atmosphere. There are many similarities between the world of business and the world of sport. To sustain growth in both, you need fresh perspectives and different ideas. You need different types of resources to continue to build. You bring something as far as you can and often somebody else comes in and brings it to the next level. We believe that's the case right now with Pacific FC as we explore the sale of the club. There's an opportunity for someone to capitalize on the opportunity which we've laid the foundations for. Someone could step up locally from a completely different background, but someone could also step up from overseas, with a totally new, fresh approach. At Pacific FC, we have built a true pathway to professional soccer on Vancouver Island -- a model that connects grassroots development to the professional stage. The soccer community here is thriving, united behind a successful team they can proudly rally around. With the sport's growth set to accelerate following the FIFA World Cup, it's time for new ideas, new voices, and expanded resources to carry our vision forward and meet the expected growth in participation, fandom, and commercial interest, while positioning Pacific FC at the forefront of Canada's soccer evolution. Last season was a disappointing one on the pitch for Pacific FC -- for the first time since 2019, we failed to qualify for the playoffs. However, in our first home match after elimination, we recorded our second-highest attendance of the season at Starlight Stadium. Only our home opener, and the sold-out derby against Vancouver FC at Royal Athletic Park in Victoria -- where just under 5,000 fans packed the stands -- drew larger crowds in support of Pacific FC. The kids here now wear purple and teal and realize that they can be like their heroes on Pacific FC. The success of the club has fanned the flames and been a catalyst for young talent to consider soccer as their main sport. When I was growing up, the big commercial sports were hockey, American football, basketball, and baseball -- all largely driven by commercialization and visibility. Those were the games you could watch on TV, where sponsors made household names out of players and kids naturally gravitated towards them and their sport. Today, the landscape has changed. Soccer is everywhere -- accessible, global and inspiring. Among the many community initiatives, the club has been involved in working with non-profits supporting youth, LISA, and local Indigenous communities. Pacific FC has been an excellent outlet to give back to our community. What we have built here is not all about winning. It is also about entertainment. It is about community. It is about supporting your local team, win or lose. There is a strong sense of family among people living on the Island. Perhaps it's being surrounded by water, or the size of the population and how close we are to one another, but there is a deeper, more intimate connection here. It creates something special -- both in the stands and throughout the broader community. We are protective of the community we have built, and we believe in supporting local. We support local businesses, we shop local, and we make a point of buying from local artisans. And, just as importantly, we want to support the local team. At the end of the day, for me and our ownership group, this has always been about something bigger than business -- it's about soccer on Vancouver Island and across Canada. Our passion and purpose remain the same: to see the game grow, to inspire the next generation, and to keep this club deeply rooted in the community that built it. Any change in ownership will be guided by that commitment ensuring Pacific FC continues to flourish, to lead, and to thrive for generations to come.