Performance in sports humbles predictions. This year I have been wrong on the misfortunes of the Vancouver Canucks and BC Lions and good fortunes of the Toronto Blue Jays and Vancouver Whitecaps. I’m 0-for-4 on my favourite teams.

Business in sport, though, is clearer. Winning drives the business (Toronto Maple Leafs, excepted). The on-field ledger this season for the Whitecaps has been made clear now for months: on a thrifty roster, Vancouver has lived near the top of the West, punching above its payroll but missing one obvious piece to take it to new business heights.

That piece was shipped this week from Germany. Thomas Müller joining the Whitecaps is the franchise’s biggest bet ever—a business-sport inflection on the field, in the books, and in the city’s imagination.

Müller, the 17-year legend of Bayern Munich, even nearing the end of his career at age 35 is bound to be physically and intellectually superior to others on the pitch.

It is the boldest possible step for a franchise that over the years has treated its toonies like family heirlooms and placed its wallet in witness protection. It is an extraordinary statement by a team whose owners have it for sale, one that could have easily satisfied itself with a winning record and a so-so foray in the playoffs before finding a new proprietor.

But no, the........

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