Vancouver Whitecaps announce Telus as new premier partner, reveal 2023 MLS kit

With the 2023 MLS season now less than 10 days away, the final preparations are firmly underway to ensure teams are ready to tackle the league’s 28th season. 

Among those key preparations? Kit reveals, as teams have started to reveal what apparel they’ll be rocking when they take the field the weekend of February 25th. 

The Vancouver Whitecaps were the first of the three Canadian teams to drop their newest uniform on Thursday, as they released the new “Bloodlines” kit as their primary jersey for the next two seasons. 

Bound together by the Hoop. 🌊#VWFC | #TogetherWeDare

— Vancouver Whitecaps FC (@WhitecapsFC) February 16, 2023

A primarily white kit, it features a big blue hoop, as has been the case with the team’s last two white kits, but also ties in a bunch of smaller hoops elsewhere on the kit, similar to their first-ever white kit from back in 2011. 

Along with red accents in the main hoop, a nod to the “Bloodlines” name, the kit is a throwback to the team’s 1974 jersey, with the name serving to showcase the generations of Whitecaps fans who might’ve grown up with the team over the decades. 

Yet, while the team’s kit might have been the main attraction with the “Bloodlines” release, it was far from the only piece of news associated with the jersey, however, as the kit also featured Canadian telecom company Telus on the front, the first such one with Vancouver’s new premier partner primarily featured. 

Having recently ended its deal with fellow telecom company Bell, who featured on the team’s kits since the 2011 season, the new sponsor was a big talking point during the Whitecaps preseason, especially as they trained and played games with the old sponsor logo covered up. 

As announced Thursday, however, Vancouver will be now sponsored by Telus until at least through the 2027 season, marking a key piece of business to be sorted out by the start of the new season. 

Now, the Whitecaps are looking to sign a couple of new players to don the new kit, with reports suggesting that they’re very close to signing forward Sérgio Cordova and goalkeeper Yohei Takaoka, two deals that they’ll look to get over the line before they take on Real Salt Lake at BC Place on Saturday, February 25th.