I saw in an article today from the Buffalo News that Peter Marlette Jr. (Marlette), owner of Buffalo Pro Soccer, had picked out his preferred spot for a new stadium to host his United Soccer League team. Oh, and taxpayers need to pick up 66% of the cost. Furthermore, this needs to happen right now. No thinking or research allowed.
“But the group behind the pro soccer push, Buffalo Pro Soccer, also said it needs the state to provide funding to cover two-thirds of the estimated $30 million cost of the project” — Buffalo News, 01/29/25
Marlette has been hinting for months through the media that public money must fund a new stadium; therefore, this shouldn’t be surprising. What strikes me as odd, though, is the minimal media attention given to the owner’s original promise of a privately funded $15 million stadium.
The biggest hurdle for a new USL stadium though is who pays for the construction of it. For months, the President of the Buffalo team, Peter Marlette Jr., (“Marlette”) has stated in meetings that a new stadium would be “entirely, if not largely, privately funded”. Yet even better, a new stadium can be built for just $15 million dollars and the team has multiple investors who are willing to write “significant checks for the (stadium) project” — Subsidy Stadium, November 2024
Maybe there is a good reason for the team now needing public help? Marlette claims he did “intend to…do this privately funded” but the locations that he picked out are “too good not to see all the way through”. Then look for new locations. My wife and I saw a house for sale recently that was way above our budget. We kept searching for another house within our budget.
Additionally, Marlette keeps urging everyone to decide immediately. In November of last year, Marlette talked about a supposed “time crunch” on the government with decisions related to the new stadium. Recently, Marlette told the Buffalo News that a decision must be made “any day now“. Yet, it has been several months since he said this, and he is just now picking out a location? Perhaps there wouldn’t be a time crunch if you had told us where you wanted to play months ago. As I have talked about before, this is intentional. He doesn’t want people to look and review over any documents that will need to be approved and signed by the local government. Make everything as quick as possible so nobody in the public can critique it.
What happens if the funding doesn’t happen?
“Without the funding, Buffalo Pro Soccer will likely need to pivot to one of two other downtown locations that are also in discussion, said Peter Marlette Jr., the group’s president…Marlette is not identifying the two other stadium sites but says they would likely be feasible without state funding”
— Buffalo News, 01/29/25
Then go to the new sites. This choice wasn’t that difficult. But wait, acting Buffalo Mayor Chris Scanlon seems almost eager to hand over more taxpayer money to a sports team. He issued a statement today where he clams to “strongly support” the site selected and that “securing state funding for this stadium is a priority”.
As WGRZ notes in an article about this story, Marlette has been lobbying officials since November of last year, so he likely has some support ready to help him push this through.
