In the end, Peter Marlette said it was a matter of timing and logistics for Buffalo Pro Soccer. They’ll be undertaking a $10 million privately funded, 7,600-seat stadium expansion at the former Medaille University complex.
Marlette says the Medaille site - developed by Buffalo businessman and civic leader Jon Williams - made the entire deal come together. It will be the soccer team’s permanent home while, for now, scrapping any plans for a 10,000-seat stadium in downtown Buffalo.
A key question was whether New York State would have chipped in the $20 million Marlette wanted to help finance the downtown site.
“The goal all along has been to play professional soccer in 2026 in Buffalo, and that was not going to happen at that site,” Marlette said. “This site is phenomenal. Why pass up this opportunity for a hypothetical?”
The Medaille expansion is expected to be a huge development piece in a puzzle to transform a former industrial-anchored portion of Elk Street in Buffalo into a sports and entertainment destination. The site’s immediate neighbors include The Powerhouse special events center on Lee Street, and the ShotClub Social Buffalo golfing center.
“We'll have a stadium that's going to be hosting concerts, festivals, professional sports, amateur sports, everything, and then an indoor-outdoor entertainment complex, like what Encore is doing right next to it. I mean, this is suddenly a destination,” Marlette said.
While the stadium’s anchor tenant will be a USL franchise, Marlette says it will be used by women’s soccer teams, amateur lacrosse and rugby leagues, concerts, and special events. Possibly 80 dates of use per year.
More than $20 million has been raised through private investors, some of whom include Jon Williams and Buffalo Bills long snapper Reid Ferguson.
That transformation of a former industrial area into a social hub is not lost on Acting Mayor Chris Scanlon.
“With an additional development like ShotClub Social just right across the way, this is going to create a destination area for Buffalonians and Western New Yorkers to come to the Valley Neighborhood,” Scanlon said.
Marlette says he will be filing the necessary paperwork with the Buffalo Planning Board and Zoning Board of Appeals later this month and pending city approval, work on the stands and other portions of the stadium could start by early summer.
