Two in the Box

We know the location that Buffalo’s USL club will call home after Buffalo Pro Soccer announced plans to build a 7,600 seat stadium at Elk and Lee Street. 

The announcement is a major benchmark in the process to bring a premier professional soccer franchise to Buffalo. Buffalo Pro Soccer President Peter Marlette Jr. has been consistent in his plan to launch the team for the 2026 season and finalizing a stadium site was vital if that timeline is to be met. 

This is the second site to be connected to the team, as a preferred site in the Cobblestone District on the HSBC Artium lot owned by Douglas Jemal was previously announced. That site would have required a public investment of about $20 million per reports. Although the downtown site was far and away the best location for the stadium, if the public funding wasn’t going to be available, there isn’t much more to say about shifting away from the Cobblestone site. 

Make no mistake, the downtown site would have been a home run. It says a lot that The Buffalo News reported that the city was encouraging Marlette and the club to look at the site. So it’s unfortunate the stars didn’t align on the public funding to make it work. But the inability to secure public funding leaves that site dead in the water and out of the club’s control. 

The future for the club now sits on Elk, approximately a mile from the Larkin District and adjacent to the planned location for OnCore’s ShotClub Social. The area is described as an “emerging entertainment district” in Buffalo Pro Soccer’s press release, which is an aspirational view of an area of the city that is still dominated by industrial sites. The stadium and ShotClub will join the Powerhouse event space on that stretch of Elk, meaning they won’t be completely on an island from other entertainment options in the city, but it’s premature to call this a district. 

The neighborhood doesn’t exactly invite a boatload of future mixed use development, making the long term outlook of an entertainment district a bit of a stretch. Make no mistake, there is space to get creative, but the two most notable neighbors are Honeywell and PVS Chemicals, the latter located directly behind the stadium site and a prior target of lawsuits due to emissions from the plant. To his credit, Marlette addressed those concerns when the stadium announcement was made, but I suspect questions over the plant’s emissions will linger. Whether or not the plant’s emissions are an issue for the stadium (and OnCore) won’t be known for some time, but I suspect that the questions will linger despite the work that’s been done by the club. 

There have been countless studies devoted to the economic impact of stadiums, typically analyzing whether or not public funding is a worthwhile investment in the buildings. Most studies tend to focus on large-scale projects like NFL or MLB venues, which differ greatly from what is being proposed here. This report offers good insight on how stadiums tend not to be singular drivers of additional economic development. Why is that relevant here? For one, reporting has pointed to this stadium having the ability to spur more attention and development to the “emerging” district. Secondly, this location isn’t so close to other developing areas of the city that the stadium would serve to complement what’s already been built. One reason the downtown site was so attractive was that the stadium could blend with KeyBank Center, the casino and the waterfront. That was an ideal situation for a smaller venue like this. Serving as a feature, not an anchor of a neighborhood avoids the potential pitfalls of relying on a stadium to drive development.

One of the most notable aspects of the site is how it’s cut off by the 190 and rail lines. While the Smith St. exit has been talked about as a benefit for access, the thruway and railroad make reaching the stadium via surface streets more of a challenge. As it stands today, the site offers a fraction of the access that would have been enjoyed downtown, but few other sites would. The railroad creates more of a headache than the thruway, in my opinion. The thruway access will be a benefit, no question. It will be vital to draw fans from the suburbs on a regular basis and providing easy access to and from the 190 is a win. The railroad forces Elk St. to go up and over 16 (!) tracks, which is a vibe killer for any sort of pedestrian access.  

It’s not all bad news though. Only being a mile from Larkinville means there is opportunity for some future connectivity. That’s not exactly a short walk, but it’s not far, either. Some sort of tram or light rail line (see the Olympic Line) would obviously be the ideal solution, but that’s more of a long-term vision. It would be a hell of a way to help promote the sort of spin off development that I think everyone is hoping to see come of the stadium project. In the interim, I would love for the club and Larkin Development Group work together to develop some sort of pedestrian or bike path connection between the two locations. The logistics of such a project are challenging. The 190, railway and existing neighborhood each create their own challenges, but finding a solution that encourages people to traverse between the two areas would be mutually beneficial. Similarly, it would be wise to forge partnerships with the bars in Larkinville in order to encourage fans to visit pre- and post-game. 

As an aside, I’d love to see the presence of the stadium and ShotClub resurrect The Riverline project that died last summer. The Riverline was a great looking project and was meant to terminate just off the end of Lee St. While this may fall short of truly being called a district, having a pair of attractions where the Riverline was supposed to end wouldn’t hurt the viability.

Imperfect as the location may be, this is still an exciting step towards the launch of the soccer team. My expectations that this will explode into a thriving sports and entertainment district are low, but this is close enough to Larkin that I think the bars will catch a bit of matchday business. ShotClub will help as well. I can see fans making a night out of a game and drinks with the driving range mixed in. The stadium looks great as well. The capacity is right on the money and I love that a portion of the seats will have a covered stand. The safe standing section is an excellent feature and I’m pumped about the ability to draw concerts in the summer. 

Bottom line: the stadium is an exciting development. It will be a good addition to the city and the club makes our pro sports landscape more robust. Whatever concerns may exist about the site will be an afterthought if this team is a winner. If fans want to keep coming back, no one will care where it’s located.