Plan to bring pro soccer to Buffalo by 2026 still on pace, stadium project 'ahead of schedule'

BUFFALO, N.Y. (WIVB) -- While "football" isn't coming home to England, more progress has been made to bring a professional United Soccer League Championship team home to Buffalo by 2026.

Buffalo Pro Soccer held its third community town hall at Lloyd Taco Factory in Williamsville on Tuesday, addressing attendees on where things stand in the quest to bring a USL Championship men's team to Western New York that will be accompanied by a pro women's team in the USL Super League soon thereafter.

Now just under four months since the teams and plans to build a 10,000-seat modular stadium to house each squad were formally announced, the group's president, Peter Marlette Jr., told WIVB News 4 that movement on a stadium is actually "ahead of schedule" at this point.

"On the stadium side, I'm absolutely further along than we expected to be," said Marlette, a Buffalo native and former general manager of a championship-winning club Union Omaha in USL League One.

In terms of where the stadium will be, Marlette is down to two potential sites in the City of Buffalo and has moved to hire a developer to assess which location makes the most sense from a development standpoint. Additionally, an architect has been brought on to assist in the process.

"I know they both make sense from a pro soccer standpoint, but I want somebody who just develops major projects to tell me if there's pros and cons to either," Marlette said. "They've been doing their pre-development work and kind of laying the foundations of what the stadium might look like at one of these sites for about a month now. So that's going along really nicely."

Arguably the biggest hurdle is securing the financial backing that would allow for not only the stadium to be built, but for the club to function.

A USL Championship-level club needs a principal owner who owns at least 35 percent of the team and has a net worth of approximately $30 million. Additionally, Marlette reiterated his belief Tuesday that the stadium build could be entirely, if not largely, privately funded.

Despite those challenges, Marlette implied that he's about where he expected to be on the financial front at this point in the process.

"From an investment standpoint, the local investment community has taken to this idea strongly," he said. "People believe in it and are putting their money behind it. ... I've had some really good conversations with principal net worth type people. We'll see how those continue to advance, but I'm completely satisfied with where we are."

It's not just Marlette who's content with where the process currently sits, either.

During the public Q&A portion of Tuesday's town hall, Marlette mentioned a recent conversation with the USL Championship's CEO in which the executive said the Buffalo Pro Soccer project has moved along quicker than any other league expansion project.

So is the ambitious timeline of having a principal owner established by the end of 2024, shovels in the ground for a stadium in early 2025, and the men's professional team taking part in the 2026 USL Championship season still on track?

"We're on pace for that, absolutely," Marlette said.

Other Buffalo Pro Soccer notes

• Marlette said he has investors who are considering "writing significant checks" for the project, but are waiting to see the finalized location of the stadium.
• When asked about the USL Championship's TV rights deals with ESPN and CBS, Marlette said he has "every intention" of negotiating a deal with a Western New York station to air the club's games locally.
• It's a goal of the club to field at least one to two Western New York natives on the roster of the professional teams each season, according to Marlette.
• Buffalo Pro Soccer will help host a 3-on-3 street soccer tournament on Aug. 18. The competition will be free to take part in, with a location and more details to be announced at a later date.