Kelowna wants a Canadian Premier League team by 2028, and the city is putting real money behind the idea — up to $25 million to overhaul the Apple Bowl and make it CPL-ready.
Mayor Tom Dyas stood alongside CPL officials Thursday to lay out the plan. The Apple Bowl currently seats 2,000. The proposed upgrade adds a new grandstand bringing capacity to 3,000, plus new locker rooms, a scoreboard, a broadcast centre, and an artificial turf conversion. It's a meaningful infrastructure push for a city that's been leaning into live sport — Kelowna hosted B.C. Lions games this summer and the CHL Memorial Cup in May.
The missing piece: an ownership group
The stadium money is the easier half of this equation. The harder part? Finding an ownership group willing to back a franchise in a league that's only been running since 2019.
CPL executive vice-president Marni Dicker was measured about it: "We look forward to engaging with potential ownership groups interested in the opportunity in Kelowna." That's diplomatic language for 'we don't have one yet.' Without ownership locked in, the 2028 timeline is an ambition, not a commitment.
The budget approval for the Apple Bowl upgrades also hinges on October's municipal election. Dyas is running again, with challengers including Emily Salsbury and councillor Ron Cannan. A change in leadership could easily slow or reshape the project.
Where this fits in Canadian soccer
The CPL sits at the top of the Canadian domestic pyramid — separate from MLS, which runs through the U.S. system and includes the Vancouver Whitecaps. The league is still young and actively expanding its footprint. Kelowna would give the CPL a presence in the B.C. interior, a market currently underserved by top-tier Canadian soccer.
For anyone watching CPL expansion odds or future franchise values, Kelowna is a city worth tracking — but the ownership question is the real variable here, not the stadium plans.
Dicker's phrasing says it plainly: the ambition is shared. The ownership group still isn't.
