A Letter from Buffalo Pro Soccer Founder & President Peter Marlette, Jr. to Founding Members and Club Supporters

I know many of you have been following our effort to bring professional soccer to Western New York, and I want to share an important update directly with you. After careful consideration, Buffalo Pro Soccer will not begin play in the 2027 season.

While we know how much excitement there is to see this club take the field, this is the right decision for the long-term success of professional soccer in Buffalo. Our goal has never been simply to launch a team. It is to build a club that can thrive in Western New York for generations, with the right ownership, stadium plan, academy pathway, community foundation, and competitive infrastructure in place from day one.

My commitment to this project is stronger today than it has ever been. Over the past year, we have made meaningful progress, built real momentum, and continued to strengthen the foundation for what this club can become. We are grateful for the energy, enthusiasm, patience, and trust our supporters have shown throughout this process.

Here’s what you can expect from us in the months ahead: 

• Buffalo Pro Soccer has assembled a committed ownership group and we look forward to announcing a principal owner who shares our vision and ambition for what this club will mean to the city.

• We are in advanced conversations to finalize a site for our future home stadium. While this process takes time, important work has been progressing behind the scenes, and I’m excited to share more about construction planning soon.

• The Buffalo Pro Soccer Academy—under the leadership of Academy Director William Malott—is already hard at work developing the next generation of talent for the professional ranks. This is critical early work to ensure homegrown players from our community can compete for our club at the highest levels.

• We continue to invest in our community and the growing passion for soccer across Buffalo. This summer, Buffalo Pro Soccer is teaming up with Silo City and New York State to offer free soccer clinics as part of World Cup viewing parties. We’re also partnering with Independent Health Foundation’s Soccer for Success program to provide free youth training. And that’s just the beginning—there’s plenty more to come in the months ahead. 

• We’ve recently welcomed a group of eight outstanding club ambassadors—our Buffalo Pro Soccer Street Team. You’ll see them at community events across Western New York throughout the summer.

• Our identity has been shaped by the community from the beginning. Over the past year, we’ve worked with our Creative Council and The Martin Group to turn that feedback into a name, colors, and crest that reflect Buffalo and the supporters helping bring this club to life.

We share our community’s excitement to see this club take the field, and we’re equally focused on building something that lasts. With the USL’s promotion-and-relegation structure creating new opportunities for clubs to rise through the ranks, it’s more important than ever that we launch with the right foundation in place. This evolution is expected to bring greater attention, stronger competition, and new energy to the league. It’s an incredible moment to bring a pro club to one of America’s great sports cities—Buffalo, New York.

Next up: We’ll be hosting a community Town Hall for Founding Members on Tuesday, June 9 from 6–7:30 PM on the patio at The Banshee Irish Pub in downtown Buffalo. We look forward to connecting with our early supporters and continuing this conversation in person.

Thank you for your ongoing support and for being part of this journey. It’s shaping up to be an exciting summer filled with community programming and announcements we know our supporters will love. More to come.