VANCOUVER – For the vast majority of sports lovers, there comes a moment of realization that you’re just not good enough to compete at an elite level.

For some that fleeting and terrible second comes sooner than others.

It’s in that slice of time you know regardless of how much effort you put in, you don’t have the coordination, the speed or the power to succeed in whatever discipline you had dreamed about mastering for years.

On some level the Vancouver Whitecaps hit that juncture this week, as co-owner Jeff Mallett told Marc Weber of The Province newspaper the Whitecaps are “not a super club,” likely in reference the LA Galaxy, New York Red Bulls and the Seattle Sounders.

After Toronto FC’s double signing of designated players Michael Bradley and Jermain Defoe, you can add them to the list, too. New York City FC, which joins Major League Soccer next season, and David Beckham’s future Miami franchise will likely fall in that category as well.

Soccer Central podcast: SPORTSNET.CA’s Soccer Central podcast, hosted by John Molinaro and James Sharman, takes an in-depth look at the beautiful game and offers timely and thoughtful analysis on the sport’s biggest issues. To listen and subscribe to the podcast, CLICK HERE.

So the Whitecaps are just another MLS club—that’s not a problem from this vantage point. This isn’t a mega market. If fans are indeed upset by this, and some have expressed frustration via social media in the aftermath of Mallet’s comments, it’s a result of a bit of a divorce from reality.

But that perception that the Whitecaps are a big club shouldn’t be blamed on those supporters—that lies squarely on the Whitecaps executives who stated Vancouver’s ambition was to one day sit among the world’s top 25 clubs.

In fairness to club president Bob Lenarduzzi, he stated following Vancouver’s abhorrent 2011 expansion season that outlining that goal in those terms was a mistake.

There’s no doubt the initial comments put greater expectations on the club than an expansion team should have had to deal with. In reality while MLS is improving, aiming to be a top 25 club while having some players on the books that barely make a living wage just isn’t an equation that makes sense.

But what exactly do Mallet’s comments mean?

Is the club less ambitious than it was before? Has the ownership group lost interest? Has one of the major players in the ownership group suffered financial losses recently and isn’t in a splurging mindset?

Or is it simply the case that club executives had loftier ambitions than the ownership group and somehow the wrong message went public?

An alternative view is that the goal posts have shifted in MLS since the Whitecaps joined in 2011. At that point, while having up to three designated players was an option if clubs were willing to pay up, not every team in the league had a DP.

Playing without big money players was possible, and certain teams thrived while maintaining an affordable budget.

As recently as 2012, the San Jose Earthquakes won the Supporters Shield without having a single DP on the roster (although Golden Boot winner Chris Wondolowski signed a new deal that off-season which bumped him into the DP club).

In 2013, though, things ramped up. Every team in MLS had at least one designated player on the books for the first time in the league’s history, and the Seattle Sounders entered uncharted territory by dishing out a $9-million fee to Tottenham Hotspur to acquire American international Clint Dempsey.

That acceleration of spending went into overdrive this off-season, with Toronto bringing in Bradley and Defoe in deals which are reported to total in the range of $100-million, when transfer fees and contracts are all factored into the equation.

The names are exciting for fans, but not all clubs are going to want to get into an arms race with the big spenders. While few millionaires and billionaires get into pro sports to make a profit, even less enter it to explicitly lose money.

MLS used to be a bargain by professional sports standards. You didn’t have to be a billionaire to own a soccer team on this continent, and even a modest club could win trophies.

But the rules have changed, and as MLS increasingly becomes more flexible and creative with its salary cap regulations, this league moves more toward a traditional free market league and away from the model of absolute parity.

For players, undoubtedly this is a good thing. For the neutral fan, it means better players will continue to come to these shores, and domestic stars will be more encouraged to stay rather than seek European glory.

But if you’re a fan of a middling MLS club, like it seems the Whitecaps are, winning an MLS Cup is no longer the standard of success. Simply making it to the post-season and putting on a good showing is the realistic aim.

Martin MacMahon is a Vancouver-based writer. Follow him on Twitter.